381 


BBMM 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


FROM  THE  LIBRARY  OF 
FRANK  J.  KLINGBERG 


A  SHORT   HISTORY 


OF    THE 


ENGLISH     PEOPLE 


A   SHORT  HISTORY 


OF   THE 


ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


BY 

J.  R.  GREEN,  M.A. 


f  llustratefc  EOftfon 

EDITED  BY 

MRS.  J.  R.  GREEN  AND  Miss  KATE  NORGATE 
VOL.  I. 


BIGELOW,    BROWN   fe?  CO.,  INC. 
NEW  YORK 


PREFACE   TO   ILLUSTRATED   EDITION 


IT  was  a  favourite  wish  of  my  husband's  to  see  English  History 
interpreted  and  illustrated  by  pictures  which  should  tell  us  how 
men  and  things  appeared  to  the  lookers-on  of  their  own  day,  and 
how  contemporary  observers  aimed  at  representing  them.  This 
new  edition  of  his  book  is  an  attempt  to  carry  out  such  an  idea. 
It  has  seemed  most  fitting  to  choose  for  the  purpose  the  work  of 
the  writer  who  by  the  brilliance  of  his  historic  imagination  has 
recovered  for  Englishmen  many  regions  of  the  past  left  waste  and 
neglected,  and  brought  to  light  costly  treasures  that  had  long  lain 
hidden  in  some  of  its  most  obscure  corners.  The  "  Short  History," 
with  its  vivid  realization  of  all  that  goes  to  make  up  the  life  of 
a  People,  lends  itself  in  a  singular  way  to  illustrations  which  are 
themselves  the  work  of  the  people  century  by  century,  and  the 
wisdom  of  the  historian  is  constantly  justified  as  the  details  of 
some  vivid  description,  or  the  significance  with  which  some  in- 
cident is  clothed,  or  the  new  measure  and  proportion  given  to 
facts  that  before  his  time  were  common  and  despised,  are  finely 
emphasized  by  the  work  of  old  scribes  or  artists  to  whom  all  these 
things  were  present  realities. 

And  there  is  another  reason  why  this  book  should  be  chosen 
for  illustration  of  this  kind.  The  very  existence  of  the  "  Short 
History"  is  in  itself  a  truly  significant  fact  in  the  record  of  the 
English  people.  For  the  book,  standing  alone  as  it  does  among 


1327224 


vi  PREFACE  TO   ILLUSTRATED   EDITION 

the  histories  of  the  nations,  must  remain  as  one  of  the  most 
characteristic  products  of  our  English  life,  and  is  in  some  sort 
the  very  expression  of  the  people  among  whom  it  was  conceived 
and  for  whom  it  was  written.  With  its  roots  sunk  deep  in  our 
English  soil,  made  of  the  very  substance  of  our  English  life,  its 
whole  character  determined  by  the  special  conditions  of  our  Eng- 
lish society,  it  has  taken  the  very  impress  of  the  temper  and 
qualities  which  have  given  to  the  struggle  of  this  people  for  their 
national  liberties  its  peculiar  spirit  and  form.  Nor  would  it  be 
easy  to  measure  the  influence  which  the  book  has  actually  exerted 
in  this  generation,  both  in  giving  a  new  direction  and  method  to 
historical  study,  and  in  giving  to  the  people  a  fuller  conscious- 
ness of  what  our  Commonwealth  imports.  Read  by  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  Englishmen,  it  has  not  passed  through  their  hands 
without  communicating  something  of  that  passion  of  patriotism 
by  which  it  is  itself  inspired,  as  it  creates  and  illuminates  for  the 
English  democracy  the  vision  of  the  continuous  life  of  a  mighty 
people,  and  as  it  quickens  faith  in  that  noble  ideal  of  freedom 
which  we  have  brought  as  our  great  contribution  to  the  sum 
of  human  effort.  Among  English-speaking  people  beyond  the 
seas,  where  it  has  a  yet  greater  number  of  readers  than  here,  it 
has  helped  to  strengthen  the  sense  of  kinship  and  the  reverence 
for  our  common  past.  I  have  known  an  American  who,  reading 
this  History  for  the  first  time  in  middle  life,  was  so  stirred  by  the 
memories  it  brought  him  that  he  found  means  to  leave  his  business 
in  one  of  the  Western  States  and  travel  to  England,  that  he  might 
visit  Ebbsfleet.  So  strong  and  direct  was  the  sense  which  he  had 
gained  from  our  history  of  the  common  tie  that  bound  English- 
speaking  peoples  together,  and  so  generous  were  the  instincts 
which  sprang  from  such  a  lofty  fellowship,  that  it  came  to  him 
as  a  personal  shock,  almost  as  a  reproach  for  the  wiping  away 
of  which  he  from  his  far  country  earnestly  desired  to  give  his 
efforts,  to  learn  that  at  the  last  Mr.  Green  had  not  been  laid  to 
rest  in  his  own  land,  but,  by  one  of  those  infinite  renunciations 
that  death  exacts,  had  been  in  death  separated  from  his  people. 


PREFACE  TO   ILLUSTRATED   EDITION  vii 

I  would  say  but  a  few  words  as  to  the  character  and  sources 
of  the  illustrations  themselves.  In  a  book  whose  pages  overflow 
with  the  abounding  fulness  and  variety  of  English  life,  where 
place  has  been  found  "  for  figures  little  heeded  in  common  history 
—figures  of  the  missionary,  the  poet,  the  printer,  the  merchant,  or 
the  philosopher"  (p.  xxv),  as  well  as  for  the  labourer,  the  wandering 
beggar,  and  the  artizan,  no  narrow  limit  can  be  set  to  the  choice  of 
illustrations.  The  selection  therefore  has  always  been  determined 
by  a  desire  to  get  at  the  contemporary  view  of  men  and  things 
rather  than  by  canons  of  art.  ^  Nothing  has  been  shut  out  which 
served  this  purpose,  and  indirectly  therefore  the  whole  series  of 
illustrations  comes  to  be  an  interesting  record  not  only  of  the 
changes  that  passed  over  English  life,  but  of  some  of  the  changes 
that  passed  over  its  modes  of  expression  as  certain  forms  of  art  rose 
to  their  perfection,  or  falling  into  contempt  declined  to  ruder  forms, 
or  were  even  blotted  out  in  a  temporary  desolation.  For  the  early 
life  of  our  forefathers  illustrations  have  been  chosen  from  household 
implements,  vessels,  armour,  or  ornaments  which  have  been  pre- 
served in  this  country,  and  also  very  largely  from  foreign  sources, 
such  as  the  Danish  and  Swedish  collections  made  by  Worsaae 
and  Montelius  of  relics  of  the  English  kin  who  remained  beyond 
sea  ;  thus,  for  example,  illustrations  of  the  Old  English  religion,  of 
which  hardly  a  trace  remains  here,  may  be  discovered  in  the 
personal  ornaments  decorated  with  symbols  of  the  old  Norse 
deities  which  are  found  in  Scandinavia.  So  also  some  specimens 
of  early  Irish  building,  metal-work,  and  illuminations,  have  been 
added  to  those  pages  which  have  really  restored  to  English  readers 
the  memory  of  "  the  missionary  and  the  poet "  who  brought  Irish 
art  and  Irish  religion  to  Britain.  From  the  eighth  to  the  sixteenth 
century  the  great  mass  of  illustrations,  whether  of  characteristic 
scenes,  of  early  buildings,  of  arts  or  industries  or  dress  or  manner 
of  life,  have  been  taken  from  illuminated  manuscripts  preserved 
in  the  British  Museum,  in  the  Public  Record  Office,  at  Lambeth, 
in  the  Bodleian  and  some  of  the  Oxford  Colleges,  in  the  Uni- 
versity Library  of  Cambridge  and  the  Libraries  of  Corpus  Christ! 


viii  PREFACE  TO    ILLUSTRATED   EDITION 

and  Trinity  Colleges;  while  some  others  from  manuscripts  in 
private  collections  have  been  obtained,  necessarily  at  second-hand, 
through  the  medium  of  the  engravings  in  "  Vetusta  Monumenta," 
"  Archxologia,"  &c.  When  the  manuscripts  fail  their  place  is 
taken  by  specimens  of  early  printing,  the  engraved  ornamental 
title-pages  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  the  wood- 
cuts on  titles  of  seventeenth  century  tracts,  the  figures  which 
adorn  the  corners  of  maps,  or  the  rich  store  of  beautiful  engravings 
of  the  later  eighteenth  century.  Satirical  prints,  the  rough  wood- 
cuts or  engravings  of  broadsheets  and  popular  ballads,  common 
playing  cards,  and  tradesmen's  advertisements  have  been  used  as 
freely  as  the  more  "  artistic "  materials,  both  as  giving  a  lively 
sense  of  the  attitude  of  the  common  people  towards  art  and 
politics,  and  as  occasionally  possessing  in  their  very  uncouthness 
much  historical  significance.  Sometimes  traces  of  an  early  fresco, 
or  the  work  of  the  seal  engraver,  the  coiner,  the  medallist,  or  the 
glass-painter,  or  even  some  fragment  of  needlework  have  been 
found  to  preserve  details  which  would  otherwise  have  been  lost. 
The  goldsmith  and  ironsmith  have  left  examples  of  fine  artistic 
work,  while  illustrations  taken  from  the  carvers  in  wood  and  stone 
range  from  effigies  of  kings  and  queens  and  great  statesmen  (of 
some  of  whom  no  other  genuine  portrait  exists)  to  the  signs  of 
London  taverns  and  shops  in  the  seventeenth  century. 

The  "Short  History"  was  the  first  book  which  distinguished 
the  great  part  played  in  the  history  of  the  English  people  by  the 
burghers  of  the  towns,  and  it  still  remains  the  only  history  where 
the  fight  of  those  little  scattered  communities  is  pictured  in  its 
true  significance  and  given  its  just  place  in  the  dcvelopement  of  the 
national  life.  Since,  in  Mr.  Green's  own  words,  "  the  mill  by  the 
stream,  the  tolls  in  the  market-place,  the  brasses  of  its  burghers  in 
the  church,  the  names  of  its  streets,  the  lingering  memory  of  its 
guilds,  the  mace  of  its  mayor,  tell  us  more  of  the  past  of  England 
than  the  spire  of  Sarum  or  the  martyrdom  of  Canterbury"  (Intr. 
xviii),  there  will  be  found  here  the  circuit  of  ancient  walls  and 
towers  that  guarded  the  little  republic,  the  old  streets  and  houses, 


PREFACE   TO   ILLUSTRATED   EDITION  ix' 

the  market  cross,  the  brass  memorial  of  the  burgher,  the  ancient 
horns  which  summoned  the  commonalty  to  the  market-place,  the 
mayor  in  his  robes,  the  mace,  the  rude  justice  with  duel  and  stocks 
and  gallows,  the  taverners  and  cooks  and  bakers  and  porters  and 
armourers  at  their  work,  and  the  relics  of  the  guild,  its  hall,  its 
seal,  its  money-box,  its  school-house,  its  "arbour."  In  the  case 
of  buildings  which  have  either  totally  vanished,  such  as  the  old 
Oxford  buildings,  old  St.  Paul's,  London  Bridge,  Oseney,  Bristol 
Bridge,  Elvet  Bridge,  the  mayor's  house  at  Lynn,  &c..  or  which 
have  been  restored,  as  Rosslyn  Chapel  or  the  farmhouse  in  Norfolk, 
it  has  often  been  possible  to  use  some  illumination  in  a  manuscript, 
or  an  early  print  or  engraving  or  private  drawing  which  recalls  the 
original  state  of  things,  or  occasionally  a  picture  has  been  photo- 
graphed— as,  for  example,  the  three  pictures  of  London  (c.  1750)  in 
the  Guildhall  Art  Gallery. 

So  also  the  indications  of  the  text  have  been  followed  where 
the  story  passes  over  to  foreign  life.  "  A  walk  through  Normandy 
teaches  one  more  of  the  age  of  our  history  which  we  are  about  to 
traverse  than  all  the  books  in  the  world."  (See  p.  134.)  "To 
understand  the  history  of  England  under  its  Angevin  rulers, 
we  must  first  know  something  of  the  Angevins  themselves " 
(p.  185).  This  principle  has  been  acted  upon  by  giving  some 
illustrations  from  Normandy  and  Anjou  ;  and  again  in  later  days 
pictures  from  the  France  of  Mary  Stuart,  and  portraits  of  the 
Continental  sovereigns  and  statesmen  with  whom  England  had  to 
deal.  The  same  feeling  may  be  found  in  the  large  use  made  of 
Dutch  engravings  in  the  seventeenth  century,  which  are  here 
significant  not  only  as  far  superior  in  point  of  art  to  the  English 
productions  of  the  time,  but  as  showing  the  lively  interest  taken 
by  foreigners  in  the  details  of  English  affairs  at  that  period,  and 
the  great  place  which  England  filled  in  their  imaginations  ;  if  the 
pictures  do  not  recall  the  very  form  and  features  which  we  actually 
wore,  they  at  least  show  that  which  others  saw  or  imagined  us  to 
be.  Finally,  some  relics  of  our  kin  in  the  New  England  across  the 
Atlantic  have  been  inserted,  just  as  in  the  earlier  time  relics  were 


x  PREFACE   TO   ILLUSTRATED   EDITION 

gathered    from  the  fatherland  of  the    English    race    beyond    the 
German  Sea. 

The  portraits,  which  have  in  almost  every  case  been  engraved 
specially  for  this  book,  and  some  of  which  are  now  for  the  first 
time  copied,  have  been  chosen  under  the  kind  advice  of  Mr.  George 
Scharf,  C.B.,  Director  of  the  National  Portrait  Gallery,  and  the 
most  authentic  likenesses  have  been  thus  secured. 

It  has  been  a  deep  source  of  pleasure  and  gratitude  to  me  to 
find  what  ready  help  and  interest  have  almost  invariably  been 
offered  on  all  sides  by  the  officials  in  the  libraries  and  collections 
who  have  generously  given  their  sympathy  and  their  counsel.  I 
especially  desire  to  thank  Mr.  Madan,  of  the  Bodleian,  for  his  many 
valuable  suggestions  and  courteous  assistance.  I  would  also  most 
gratefully  acknowledge  the  kindness  with  which  those  who  possess 
private  drawings  or  who  own  pictures  not  hitherto  engraved  or 
photographed,  have  allowed  them  to  be  reproduced  for  the  illus- 
trations of  this  book. 

In  conclusion,  I  am  bound  to  add  that  in  the  laborious  task 
of  searching  over  so  wide  a  field  for  illustrations  and  the  difficult 
work  of  selection  Miss  Kate  Norgate  has  worked  with  a  devo- 
tion and  intelligent  care  for  which  I  cannot  render  adequate 
thanks,  but  which  will  I  have  no  doubt  win  the  gratitude  of 
many  readers.  My  sincere  thanks  are  due  to  Mr.  Cooper  and 
the  artists  who  have  worked  with  him  for  the  zeal  and  sympathy 
which  they  have  thrown  into  their  task,  and  their  skill  in  its 
execution. 

ALICE  STOPFORD  GREEN. 

14  KENSINGTON  SQUARE, 
March  <)th,  1892. 


INTRODUCTION 


THE  story  of  how  the  Short  History  of  the  English  People 
came  to  be  written  would  be  the  story  of  Mr.  Green's  life,  from  the 
time  when  his  boyish  interest  was  first  awakened  by  the  world 
beyond  himself  until  his  work  was  done.  So  closely  are  the  work 
and  the  worker  bound  together  that  unless  the  biography  be  fully 
written  no  real  account  of  the  growth  of  the  book  can  indeed  be 
given.  But  in  issuing  a  Revised  Edition  of  the  History,  a  slight 
sketch  of  the  historical  progress  of  the  writer's  mind,  and  of  the 
gradual  way  in  which  the  plan  of  his  work  grew  up,  may  not  seem 
out  of  place. 

John  Richard  Green,  who  was  born  at  Oxford  in  December 
1837,  was  sent  at  eight  years  old  to  Magdalen  Grammar  School, 
then  held  in  a  small  room  within  the  precincts  of  the  College. 
The  Oxford  world  about  him  was  full  of  suggestions  of  a  past 
which  very  early  startled  his  curiosity  and  fired  his  imagination. 
The  gossiping  tales  of  an  old  dame  who  had  seen  George  the 
Third  drive  through  the  town  in  a  coach  and  six  were  his  first 
lessons  in  history.  Year  after  year  he  took  part  with  excited 
fancy  in  the  procession  of  the  Magdalen  choir  boys  to  the  College 
tower  on  May  Day,  to  sing  at  the  sunrising  a  Hymn  to  the  Trinity 
which  had  replaced  the  Mass  chanted  in  pre- Reformation  days,  and 
to  "jangle"  the  bells  in  recognition  of  an  immemorial  festival. 
St.  Giles'  fair,  the  "  beating  of  the  bounds,"  even  the  name  of 
"  Pennyfarthing  Street,"  were  no  less  records  of  a  mysterious  past 
than  Chapel  or  College  or  the  very  trees  of  Magdalen  Walk  ;  and 
he  once  received,  breathless  and  awe-struck,  a  prize  from  the  hands 


xii  INTRODUCTION 


of  the  centenarian  President  of  the  College,  Dr.  Routh,  the  last 
man  who  ever  wore  a  wig  in  Oxford,  a  man  who  had  himself  seen 
Dr.  Johnson  stand  in  the  High  Street  with  one  foot  on  either  side 
of  the  kennel  that  ran  down  the  middle  of  the  way,  the  street  boys 
standing  round,  "  none  daring  to  interrupt  the  meditations  of  the 
great  lexicographer."  "  You  are  a  clever  boy,"  said  the  old  man 
as  he  gave  the  prize  and  shook  him  by  the  hand. 

His  curiosity  soon  carried  him  beyond  Oxford  ;  and  in 
very  early  days  he  learned  to  wander  on  Saints'  days  and  holidays 
to  the  churches  of  neighbouring  villages,  and  there  shut  himself  in 
to  rub  brasses  and  study  architectural  mouldings.  Other  interests, 
followed  on  his  ecclesiastical  training.  He  remembered  the 
excitement  which  was  produced  in  Oxford  by  Layard's  discovery 
of  the  Nestorians  in  the  Euphrates  valley.  One  day  Mr.  Ramsay 
gathered  round  him  the  boys  who  were  at  play  in  Magdalen  Walk 
and  told  them  of  his  journey  to  see  these  people ;  and  one  at  least 
of  his  hearers  plunged  eagerly  into  problems  then  much  discussed 
of  the  relations  of  orthodox  believers  to  Monophysites,  and  the  dis- 
tinctions between  heresy  and  schism,  questions  which  occupied  him 
many  years.  Knowledge  of  this  kind,  he  said  long  afterwards,  had 
been  a  real  gain  to  him.  "  The  study  of  what  the  Monophysites 
did  in  Syria,  and  the  Monothelites  in  Egypt,  has  taught  me  what 
few  historians  know — the  intimate  part  religion  plays  in  a  nation's 
history,  and  how  closely  it  joins  itself  to  a  people's  life." 

Living  in  a  strictly  Conservative  atmosphere,  he  had  been  very 
diligently  brought  up  as  a  Tory  and  a  High  Churchman.  But  when 
he  was  about  fourteen,  orthodox  Conservatism  and  school  life  came 
to  a  close  which  then  seemed  to  him  very  tragic.  A  school  essay 
was  set  on  Charles  the  First ;  and  as  the  boy  read  earnestly  every 
book  he  could  find  on  the  subject,  it  suddenly  burst  on  him  that 
Charles  was  wrong.  The  essay,  written  with  a  great  deal  of  feel- 
ing under  this  new  and  strong  conviction,  gained  the  prize  over 
the  heads  of  boys  older  and  till  then  reputed  abler  ;  but  it  drew 
down  on  him  unmeasured  disapproval.  Canon  Mozlcy,  who 
examined,  remonstrated  in  his  grave  way  :  "  Your  essay  is  very 


INTRODUCTION  xiii 


good,  but  remember  I  do  not  agree  with  your  conclusions,  and  you 
will  in  all  probability  see  reason  to  change  them  as  you  grow 
older."  The  head-master  took  a  yet  more  severe  view  of  such  a 
change  of  political  creed.  But  the  impulse  to  Liberalism  had 
been  definitely  given  ;  and  had  indeed  brought  with  it  many  other 
grave  questionings.  When  at  the  next  examination  he  shot  up  to 
the  head  of  the  school,  his  master  advised  that  he  should  be  with- 
drawn from  Magdalen,  to  the  dismay  both  of  himself  and  of  the 
uncle  with  whom  he  lived.  The  uncle  indeed  had  his  own  grounds 
of  alarm.  John  had  one  day  stood  at  a  tailor's  window  in 
Oxford  where  Lord  John  Russell's  Durham  Letter  was  spread  out 
to  view,  and,  as  he  read  it,  had  come  to  his  own  conclusions  as  to 
its  wisdom.  He  even  declared  the  Ecclesiastical  Titles  Act  to  be 
absurd.  His  uncle,  horrified  at  so  extreme  a  heresy,  with  angry 
decision  ordered  him  to  find  at  once  another  home  ;  and  when 
after  a  time  the  agitation  had  died  away  and  he  was  allowed  to 
come  back,  it  was  on  the  condition  of  never  again  alluding  to  so 
painful  a  subject.  The  new-found  errors  clung  to  him,  however, 
when  he  went  shortly  afterwards  to  live  in  the  country  with  a 
tutor.  "  I  wandered  about  the  fields  thinking,"  he  said,  "  but  I 
never  went  back  from  the  opinions  I  had  begun  to  form." 

It  was  when  he  was  about  sixteen  that  Gibbon  fell  into  his  hands  ; 
and  from  that  moment  the  enthusiasm  of  history  took  hold  of  him. 
"  Man  and  man's  history  "  became  henceforth  the  dominant  interest 
of  his  life.  When  he  returned  to  Oxford  with  a  scholarship  to 
Jesus  College,  an  instinct  of  chivalrous  devotion  inspired  his 
resolve  that  the  study  of  history  should  never  become  with  him  "  a 
matter  of  classes  or  fellowships,"  nor  should  be  touched  by  the 
rivalries,  the  conventional  methods,  the  artificial  limitations,  and 
the  utilitarian  aims  of  the  Schools.  College  work  and  history 
work  went  on  apart,  with  much  mental  friction  and  difficulty  of 
adjustment  and  sorrow  of  heart.  Without  any  advisers,  almost 
without  friends,  he  groped  his  way,  seeking  in  very  solitary 
fashion  after  his  own  particular  vocation.  His  first  historical  efforts 
were  spent  on  that  which  lay  immediately  about  him  ;  and  the 


xiv  INTRODUCTION 


series  of  papers  which  he  sent  at  this  time  to  the  Oxford  Chronicle 
on  "  Oxford  in  the  last  Century "  are  instinct  with  all  the  vivid 
imagination  of  his  later  work,  and  tell  their  tale  after  a  method 
and  in  a  style  which  was  already  perfectly  natural  to  him.  He 
read  enormously,  but  history  was.  never  to  him  wholly  a  matter  of 
books.  The  Town  was  still  his  teacher.  There  was  then  little  help 
to  be  had  for  the  history  of  Oxford  or  any  other  town.  "  So 
wholly  had  the  story  of  the  towns,"  he  wrote  later,  "  passed  out  of 
the  minds  of  men  that  there  is  still  not  a  history  of  our  country 
which  devotes  a  single  page  to  it,  and  there  is  hardly  an  antiquary 
who  has  cared  to  disentomb  the  tragic  records  of  fights  fought  for 
freedom  in  this  narrow  theatre  from  the  archives  which  still  con- 
tain them.  The  treatise  of  Brady  written  from  a  political,  that  of 
Madox  from  a  narrow  antiquarian,  point  of  view  ;  the  summaries 
of  charters  given  by  the  Commissioners  under  the  Municipal  Re- 
form Act  ;  the  volumes  of  Stephens  and  Merewether ;  and  here 
and  there  a  little  treatise  on  isolated  towns  are  the  only  printed 
materials  for  the  study  of  the  subject."  Other  materials  were 
abundant.  St.  Giles'  Fair  was  full  of  lessons  for  him.  He  has 
left  an  amusing  account  of  how,  on  a  solemn  day  which  came 
about  once  in  eight  years,  he  marched  with  Mayor  and  Corpora- 
tion round  the  city  boundaries.  He  lingered  over  the  memory  of 
St.  Martin's  Church,  the  centre  of  the  town  life,  the  folk-mote 
within  its  walls,  the  low  shed  outside  where  mayor  and  bailiff 
administered  justice,  the  bell  above  which  rang  out  its  answer  to 
the  tocsin  of  the  gownsmen  in  St.  Mary's,  the  butchery  and 
spicery  and  vintnery  which  clustered  round  in  the  narrow  streets. 
"  In  a  walk  through  Oxford  one  may  find  illustrations  of  every 
period  of  our  annals.  The  Cathedral  still  preserves  the  memory  of 
the  Mercian  St.  Frideswide  ;  the  tower  of  the  Norman  Earls  frowns 
down  on  the  waters  of  the  Mill ;  around  Merton  hang  the  memories 
of  the  birth  of  our  Constitution  ;  the  New  Learning  and  the  Re- 
formation mingle  in  Christ  Church  ;  a  '  grind '  along  the  Marston 
Road  follows  the  track  of  the  army  of  Fairfax  ;  the  groves  of 
Magdalen  preserve  the  living  traditions  of  the  last  of  the  Stewarts." 


INTRODUCTION  xv 


Two  years,  however,  of  solitary  effort  to  work  out  problems  of 
education,  of  life,  of  history,  left  him  somewhat  disheartened  and 
bankrupt  in  energy.  A  mere  accident  at  last  brought  the  first 
counsel  and  encouragement  he  had  ever  known.  Some  chance 
led  him  one  day  to  the  lecture-room  where  Stanley,  then  Canon  of 
Christ  Church,  was  speaking  on  the  history  of  Dissent.  Startled 
out  of  the  indifference  with  which  he  had  entered  the  room,  he 
suddenly  found  himself  listening  with  an  interest  and  wonder 
which  nothing  in  Oxford  had  awakened,  till  the  lecturer  closed 
with  the  words,  " '  Magna  est  veritas  et  pravalebit,'  words  so  great 
that  I  could  almost  prefer  them  to  the  motto  of  our  own  Univer- 
sity, '  Dominus  illuminatio  mea.' "  In  his  excitement  he  ex- 
claimed, as  Stanley,  on  leaving  the  hall,  passed  close  by  him,  "  Do 
you  know,  sir,  that  the  words  you  quoted,  '  Magna  est  veritas  et 
pravalebitl  are  the  motto  of  the  Town  ?"  "  Is  it  possible  ?  How 
interesting  !  When  will  you  come  and  see  me  and  talk  about  it  ? " 
cried  Stanley  ;  and  from  that  moment  a  warm  friendship  sprang 
up.  "  Then  and  after,"  Mr.  Green  wrote,  "  I  heard  you  speak  of 
work,  not  as  a  thing  of  classes  and  fellowships,  but  as  something 
worthy  for  its  own  sake,  worthy  because  it  made  us  like  the  great 
Worker.  '  If  you  cannot  or  will  not  work  at  the  work  which 
Oxford  gives  you,  at  any  rate  work  at  something.'  I  took  up  my 
old  boy-dreams  of  history  again.  I  think  I  have  been  a  steady 
worker  ever  since." 

It  was  during  these  years  at  Oxford  that  his  first  large 
historical  schemes  were  laid.  His  plan  took  the  shape  of  a 
History  of  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury  ;  and  seeking  in 
Augustine  and  his  followers  a  clue  through  the  maze  of  thirteen 
centuries,  he  proposed  under  this  title  to  write  in  fact  the  whole 
story  of  Christian  civilization  in  England.  "  No  existing  historians 
help  me,"  he  declared  in  his  early  days  of  planning  ;  "  rather  I 
have  been  struck  by  the  utter  blindness  of  one  and  all  to  the 
subject  which  they  profess  to  treat — the  national  growth  and 
developement  of  our  country."  When  in  1860  he  le*t  Oxford  for 

the  work  he  had  chosen  as  curate  in  one  of  the  poctcst  parishes  of 
V 


xvi  INTRODUCTION 


East  London,  he  carried  with  him  thoughts  of  history.  Letters  full 
of  ardent  discussion  of  the  theological  and  social  problems  about 
him  still  tell  of  hours  saved  here  and  there  for  the  British  Museum, 
of  work  done  on  Cuthbert,  on  Columba,  on  Irish  Church  History — 
of  a  scheme  for  a  history  of  Somerset,  which  bid  fair  to  extend  far, 
and  which  led  direct  to  Glastonbury,  Dunstan,  and  Early  English 
matters.  Out  of  his  poverty,  too,  he  had  gathered  books  about 
him,  books  won  at  a  cost  which  made  them  the  objects  of  a 
singular  affection  ;  and  he  never  opened  a  volume  of  his  "  Acta 
Sanctorum  "  without  a  lingering  memory  of  the  painful  efforts  by 
which  he  had  brought  together  the  volumes  one  by  one,  and  how 
many  days  he  had  gone  without  dinner  when  there  was  no  other 
way  of  buying  them. 

But  books  were  not  his  only  sources  of  knowledge.  To  the 
last  he  looked  on  his  London  life  as  having  given  him  his  best 
lessons  in  history.  It  was  with  his  churchwardens,  his  school- 
masters, in  vestry  meetings,  in  police  courts,  at  boards  of  guardians, 
in  service  in  chapel  or  church,  in  the  daily  life  of  the  dock-labourer, 
the  tradesman,  the  costermonger,  in  the  summer  visitation  of 
cholera,  in  the  winter  misery  that  followed  economic  changes,  that 
he  learnt  what  the  life  of  the  people  meant  as  perhaps  no  historian 
had  ever  learnt  it  before.  Constantly  struck  down  as  he  was  by 
illness,  even  the  days  of  sickness  were  turned  to  use.  Every  drive, 
every  railway  journey,  every  town  he  passed  through  in  brief 
excursions  for  health's  sake,  added  something  to  his  knowledge  ;  if 
he  was  driven  to  recover  strength  to  a  seaside  lodging  he  could 
still  note  a  description  of  Ebbsfleet  or  Richborough  or  Minster, 
so  that  there  is  scarcely  a  picture  of  scenery  or  of  geographical 
conditions  in  his  book  which  is  not  the  record  of  a  victory  over 
the  overwhelming  languor  of  disease. 

After  two  years  of  observation,  of  reading,  and  of  thought,  the 
Archbishops  no  longer  seemed  very  certain  guides  through  the 
centuries  of  England's  growth.  They  filled  the  place,  it  would  ap- 
pear, no  better  than  the  Kings.  If  some  of  them  were  great  leaders 
among  the  people,  others  were  of  little  account ;  and  after  the 


INTRODUCTION  xvii 


sixteenth  century  the  upgrowth  of  the  Nonconformists  broke  the 
history  of  the  people,  taken  from  the  merely  ecclesiastical  point  of 
view,  into  two  irreconcilable  fractions,  and  utterly  destroyed  any 
possibility  of  artistic  treatment  of  the  story  as  a  whole.  In  a  new 
plan  he  looked  far  behind  Augustine  and  Canterbury,  and  threw 
himself  into  geology,  the  physical  geography  of  our  island  in  pre- 
historic times,  and  the  study  of  the  cave-men  and  the  successive 
races  that  peopled  Britain,  as  introductory  to  the  later  history  of 
England.  But  his  first  and  dominating  idea  quickly  thrust  all 
others  aside.  It  was  of  the  English  People  itself  that  he  must 
write  if  he  would  write  after  his  own  heart.  The  nine  years 
spent  in  the  monotonous  reaches  of  dreary  streets  that  make 
up  Hoxton  and  Stepney,  the  close  contact  with  sides  of  life  little 
known  to  students,  had  only  deepened  the  impressions  with 
which  the  idea  of  a  people's  life  had  in  Oxford  struck  on  his 
imagination.  "  A  State,"  he  would  say,  "  is  accidental ;  it  can  be 
made  or  unmade,  and  is  no  real  thing  to  me.  But  a  nation 
is  very  real  to  me.  That  you  can  neither  make  nor  destroy." 
All  his  writings,  the  historical  articles  which  he  sent  to  the 
Saturday  Review  and  letters  to  his  much-honoured  friend,  Mr. 
Freeman,  alike  tended  in  the  same  direction,  and  show  how 
persistently  he  was  working  out  his  philosophy  of  history.  The 
lessons  which  years  before  he  had  found  written  in  the  streets  and 
lanes  of  his  native  town  were  not  forgotten.  "  History,"  he  wrote 
in  1869,  "we  are  told  by  publishers,  is  the  most  unpopular  of  all 
branches  of  literature  at  the  present  day,  but  it  is  only  unpopular 
because  it  seems  more  and  more  to  sever  itself  from  all 
that  can  touch  the  heart  of  a  people.  In  mediaeval  history,  above 
all,  the  narrow  ecclesiastical  character  of  the  annals  which  serve  as 
its  base,  instead  of  being  corrected  by  a  wider  research  into  the 
memorials  which  surround  us,  has  been  actually  intensified  by  the 
partial  method  of  their  study,  till  the  story  of  a  great  people  seems 
likely  to  be  lost  in  the  mere  squabbles  of  priests.  Now  there  is 
hardly  a  better  corrective  for  all  this  to  be  found  than  to  seta  man. 
frankly  in  the  streets  of  a  simple  English  town,  and  to  bid  him 


xviii  INTRODUCTION 


work  out  the  history  of  the  men  who  had  lived  and  died  there. 
The  mill  by  the  stream,  the  tolls  in  the  market  place,  the  brasses  of 
its  burghers  in  the  church,  the  names  of  its  streets,  the  lingering 
memory  of  its  guilds,  the  mace  of  its  mayor,  tell  us  more  of  the 
past  of  England  than  the  spire  of  Sarum  or  the  martyrdom 
of  Canterbury.  We  say  designedly  of  the  past  of  England,  rather 
than  of  the  past  of  English  towns.  ...  In  England  the  history 
of  the  town  and  of  the  country  are  one.  The  privilege  of  the 
burgher  has  speedily  widened  into  the  liberty  of  the  people  at  large. 
The  municipal  charter  has  merged  into  the  great  charter  of  the 
realm.  All  the  little  struggles  over  toll  and  tax,  all  the  little 
claims  of  '  custom  '  and  franchise,  have  told  on  the  general  advance 
of  liberty  and  law.  The  townmotes  of  the  Norman  reigns  tided 
free  discussion  and  self-government  over  from  the  Witenagemot  of 
the  old  England  to  the  Parliament  of  the  new.  The  husting  court, 
with  its  resolute  assertion  of  justice  by  one's  peers,  gave  us  the 
whole  fabric  of  our  judicial  legislation.  The  Continental  town  lost 
its  individuality  by  sinking  to  the  servile  level  of  the  land  from 
which  it  had  isolated  itself.  The  English  town  lost  its  individuality 
by  lifting  the  country  at  large  to  its  own  level  of  freedom  and  law." 
The  earnestness,  however,  with  which  he  had  thrown  himself 
into  his  parish  work  left  no  time  for  any  thought  of  working  out 
his  cherished  plans.  His  own  needs  were  few,  and  during  nearly 
three  years  he  spent  on  the  necessities  of  schools  and  of  the  poor  more 
than  the  whole  of  the  income  he  drew  from  the  Church,  while  he 
provided  for  his  own  support  by  writing  at  night,  after  his  day's 
work  was  done,  articles  for  the  Saturday  Review.  At  last,  in  1869, 
the  disease  which  had  again  and  again  attacked  him  fell  with 
renewed  violence  on  a  frame  exhausted  with  labours  and  anxieties. 
All  active  work  was  for  ever  at  an  end — the  doctors  told  him 
there  was  little  hope  of  prolonging  his  life  six  months.  It  was 
at  this  moment,  the  first  moment  of  leisure  he  had  ever  known, 
he  proposed  "  to  set  down  a  few  notions  which  I  have  con- 
ceived concerning  history,"  which  "  might  serve  as  an  intro- 
duction to  better  things  if  I  lived,  and  might  stand  for  some 


INTRODUCTION  xix 


work  done  if  I  did  not."  The  "Short  History"  was  thus 
begun.  When  the  six  months  had  passe'd  he  had  resisted 
the  first  severity  of  the  attack,  but  he  remained  with  scarcely 
a  hold  on  life  ;  and  incessantly  vexed  by  the  suffering  and 
exhaustion  of  constant  illness,  perplexed  by  questions  as 
to  the  mere  means  of  livelihood,  thwarted  and  hindered  by  diffi- 
culties about  books  in  the  long  winters  abroad,  he  still  toiled  on 
at  his  task.  "  I  wonder,"  he  said  once  in  answer  to  some  critic, 
"  how  in  those  years  of  physical  pain  and  despondency  I  could  ever 
have  written  the  book  at  all."  Nearly  five  years  were  given  to  the 
work.  The  sheets  were  written  and  re-written,  corrected  and 
cancelled  and  begun  again  till  it  seemed  as  though  revision  would 
never  have  an  end.  "  The  book  is  full  of  faults,"  he  declared  sorrow- 
fully, "  which  make  me  almost  hopeless  of  ever  learning  to  write 
well."  As  the  work  went  on  his  friends  often  remonstrated  with  much 
energy.  Dean  Stanley  could  not  forgive  its  missing  so  dramatic 
an  opening  as  Caesar's  landing  would  have  afforded.  Others 
judged  severely  his  style,  his  method,  his  view  of  history,  his 
selection  and  rejection  of  facts.  Their  judgement  left  him 
"  lonely,"  he  said  ;  and  with  the  sensitiveness  of  the  artistic  nature, 
its  quick  apprehension  of  unseen  danger,  its  craving  for  sympathy, 
he  saw  with  perhaps  needless  clearness  of  vision  the  perils  to  his 
chance  of  winning  a  hearing  which  were  prophesied.  He  agreed 
that  the  "  faults  "  with  which  he  was  charged  might  cause  the  ruin 
of  his  hopes  of  being  accepted  either  by  historians  or  by  the 
public  ;  and  yet  these  very  "  faults,"  he  insisted,  were  bound  up 
with  his  faith.  The  book  was  in  fact,  if  not  in  name,  the  same  as 
that  which  he  had  planned  at  Oxford  ;  to  correct  its  "  faults  "  he 
must  change  his  whole  conception  of  history  ;  he  must  renounce 
his  belief  that  it  was  the  great  impulses  of  national  feeling,  and 
not  the  policy  of  statesmen,  that  formed  the  ground-work  and 
basis  of  the  history  of  nations,  and  his  certainty  that  political 
history  could  only  be  made  intelligible  and  just  by  basing  it  on 
social  history  in  its  largest  sense. 

"  I  may  be  wrong  in  my  theories,"  he  wrote, "  but  it  is  better  for 


xx  INTRODUCTION 


me  to  hold  to  what  I  think  true,  and  to  work  it  out  as  I  best 
can,  even  if  I  work  it  out  badly,  than  to  win  the  good  word  of 
some  people  I  respect  and  others  I  love"  by  giving  up  a  real 
conviction.  Amid  all  his  fears  as  to  the  failings  of  his  work  he 
still  clung  to  the  belief  that  it  went  on  the  old  traditional  lines  of 
English  historians.  However  Gibbon  might  err  in  massing  to- 
gether his  social  facts  in  chapters  apart,  however  inadequate  Hume's 
attempts  at  social  history  might  be,  however  Macaulay  might  look  at 
social  facts  merely  as  bits  of  external  ornament,  they  all,  he  main- 
tained, professed  the  faith  he  held.  He  used  to  protest  that  even 
those  English  historians  who  desired  to  be  merely  "  external  and 
pragmatic "  could  not  altogether  reach  their  aim  as  though  they 
had  been  "  High  Dutchmen."  The  free  current  of  national  life  in 
England  was  too  strong  to  allow  them  to  become  ever  wholly  lost 
in  State-papers  ;  and  because  he  believed  that  Englishmen  could 
therefore  best  combine  the  love  of  accuracy  and  the  appreciation 
of  the  outer  aspects  of  national  or  political  life  with  a  perception 
of  the  spiritual  forces  from  which  these  mere  outer  phenomena 
proceed,  he  never  doubted  that  "  the  English  ideal  of  history  would 
in  the  long  run  be  what  Gibbon  made  it  in  his  day — the  first  in  the 
world." 

When  at  last,  by  a  miracle  of  resolution  and  endurance,  the 
"  Short  History"  was  finished,  discouraging  reports  reached  him 
from  critics  whose  judgement  he  respected  ;  and  his  despondency 
increased.  "  Never  mind,  you  mayn't  succeed  this  time,"  said 
one  of  his  best  friends,  "  but  you  are  sure  to  succeed  some  day." 
He  never  forgot  that  in  this  time  of  depression  there  were  two 
friends,  Mr.  Stopford  Brooke  and  his  publisher,  who  were 
unwavering  in  their  belief  in  his  work  and  in  hopefulness  of  the 
result 

The  book  was  published  in  1874,  when  he  was  little  more  than 
36  years  of  age.  Before  a  month  was  over,  in  the  generous 
welcome  given  it  by  scholars  and  by  the  English  people,  he  found 
the  reward  of  his  long  endurance.  Mr.  Green  in  fact  was  the  first 
English  historian  who  had  either  conceived  or  written  of  English 


INTRODUCTION  xxi 


history  from  the  side  of  the  principles  which  his  book  asserted  ; 
and  in  so  doing  he  had  given  to  his  fellow-citizens  such  a  story  of 
their  Commonwealth  as  has  in  fact  no  parallel  in  any  other  country. 
The  opposition  and  criticism  which  he  met  with  were  in  part  a 
measure  of  the  originality  of  his  conception.  Success,  however 
and  criticism  alike  came  to  him  as  they  come  to  the  true 
scholar.  "  I  know,"  he  said  in  this  first  moment  of  un- 
expected recognition,  "  what  men  will  say  of  me,  '  He  died 
learning.' " 

I  know  of  no  excuse  which  I    could  give  for  attempting  any 
revision  of  the  "  Short  History,"  save  that  this  was  my  husband's 
last  charge  to  me.     Nor  can  I  give  any  other  safeguard  for  the  way 
in  which  I  have  performed  the  work  than  the  sincere  and  laborious 
effort  I  have  made  to  carry  out  that  charge  faithfully.     I  have  been 
very  careful  not  to  interfere  in  any  way  with  the  plan  or  structure 
of  the  book,  and  save  in  a  few  exceptional  cases,  in  which  I  knew 
Mr.  Green's  wishes,  or  where  a  change  of  chronology  made  some 
slight  change  in  arrangement  necessary,  I  have  not  altered  its  order. 
My   work  has  been  rather  that  of  correcting  mistakes   of  detail 
which  must  of  a  certainty  occur  in  a  story  which  covers  so  vast  a 
field  ;  and  in  this  I   have  been  mainly  guided  throughout  by  the 
work   of    revision   done    by   Mr.    Green   himself    in    his    larger 
"  History."     In  this  History  he  had  at  first  proposed  merely  to 
prepare  a  library   edition   of   the  "Short    History"    revised   and 
corrected.     In  his  hands,  however,  it  became  a  wholly  different 
book,  the  chief  part  of  it  having  been  re-written  at  much  greater 
length,  and  on  an  altered  plan.       I  have  therefore  only  used  its 
corrections  within  very    definite  limits,  so  far  as  they  could    be 
adapted  to  a  book  of  different  scope  and  arrangement.     Though 
since  his  death  much  has  been  written  on  English  History,  his 
main  conclusions  may  be  regarded  as  established,  and   I  do  not 
think   they   would  have  been    modified,  save   in   a   few  cases  of 
detail,  even  by  such  books  as  the  last  two  volumes  of  Dr.  Stubbs' 
"  Constitutional  History,"  and  his  "  Lectures  on  Modern  History"; 


xxii  INTRODUCTION 


Mr.  Gardiner's  later  volumes  on  Charles's  reign,  and  Mr.  Skene's 
later  volumes  on,"  Early  Scottish  History."  In  his  own  judgement, 
severely  as  he  judged  himself,  the  errors  in  the  "  Short  History" 
were  not  the  mistakes  that- show  a  real  mis-reading  of  this  or  that 
period,  or  betray  an  unhistoric  mode  of  looking  at  things  as  a 
whole  ;  nor  has  their  correction  in  fact  involved  any  serious  change. 
In  some  passages,  even  where  I  knew  that  Mr.  Green's  own  criti- 
cism went  far  beyond  that  of  any  of  his  critics,  I  have  not  felt 
justified  in  making  any  attempt  to  expand  or  re-write  what  could 
only  have  been  re-written  by  himself.  In  other  matters  which 
have  been  the  subject  of  comments  of  some  severity,  the  grounds 
of  his  own  decision  remained  unshaken  ;  as  for  example,  the  scanty 
part  played  by  Literature  after  1660,  which  Mr.  Green  regretted  he 
had  not  explained  in  his  first  preface.  It  was  necessary  that  the 
book  should  be  brought  to  an  end  in  about  eight  hundred  pages. 
Something  must  needs  be  left  out,  and  he  deliberately  chose 
Literature,  because  it  seemed  to  him  that  after  1660  Literature 
ceased  to  stand  in  the  fore-front  of  national  characteristics,  and 
that  Science,  Industry,  and  the  like,  played  a  much  greater  part. 
So  "  for  truth's  sake  "  he  set  aside  a  strong  personal  wish  to  say 
much  that  was  in  his  mind  on  the  great  writers  of  later  times,  and 
turned  away  to  cotton-spinning  and  Pitt's  finance.  "  It  cost  me 
much  trouble,"  he  said,  "  and  I  knew  the  book  would  not  be  so 
bright,  but  I  think  I  did  rightly." 

It  was  in  this  temper  that  all  his  work  was  done  ;  and  I  would 
only  add  a  few  words  which  I  value  more  especially,  because  they 
tell  how  the  sincerity,  the  patient  self-denial,  the  earnestness  of 
purpose,  that  underlay  all  his  vivid  activity  were  recognized  by  one 
who  was  ever  to  him  a  master  in  English  History,  Dr.  Stubbs,  now 
Bishop  of  Oxford.  "  Mr.  Green,"  he  wrote,  "  possessed  in  no  scanty 
measure  all  the  gifts  that  contribute  to  the  making  of  a  great  his- 
torian. He  combined,  so  far  as  the  history  of  England  is  concerned, 
a  complete  and  firm  grasp  of  the  subject  in  its  unity  and  integrity 
with  a  wonderful  command  of  details,  and  a  thorough  sense  of  per- 
spective and  proportion.  All  his  work  was  real  and  original  work ; 


INTRODUCTION  xxiii 


few  people  besides  those  who  knew  him  well  would  see  under  the 
charming  ease  and  vivacity  of  his  style  the  deep  research  and 
sustained  industry  of  the  laborious  student.  But  it  was  so  ;  there 
was  no  department  of  our  national  records  that  he  had  not  studied 
and,  I  think  I  may  say,  mastered.  Hence  I  think  the  unity  of  his 
dramatic  scenes  and  the  cogency  of  his  historical  arguments.  Like 
other  people  he  made  mistakes  sometimes  ;  but  scarcely  ever  does  the 
correction  of  his  mistakes  affect  either  the  essence  of  the  picture 
or  the  force  of  the  argument.  And  in  him  the  desire  of  stating 
and  pointing  the  truth  of  history  was  as  strong  as  the  wish  to  make 
both  his  pictures  and  his  arguments  telling  and  forcible.  He  never 
treated  an  opposing  view  with  intolerance  or  contumely  ;  his  hand- 
ling of  controversial  matter  was  exemplary.  And  then,  to  add 
still  more  to  the  debt  we  owe  him,  there  is  the  wonderful  simplicity 
and  beauty  of  the  way  in  which  he  tells  his  tale,  which  more  than 
anything  else  has  served  to  make  English  history  a  popular,  and 
as  it  ought  to  be,  if  not  the  first,  at  least  the  second  study  of  all 
Englishmen." 

I  have  to  thank  those  friends  of  Mr.  Green,  Dr.  Stubbs, 
Dr.  Creighton,  Professor  Bryce,  and  Mr.  Lecky,  who,  out  of  their 
regard  for  his  memory,  have  made  it  a  pleasure  to  me  to  ask 
their  aid  and  counsel.  I  owe  a  special  gratitude  to  Professor 
Gardiner  for  a  ready  help  which  spared  no  trouble  and  counted  no 
cost,  and  for  the  rare  generosity  which  placed  at  my  disposal  the 
results  of  his  own  latest  and  unpublished  researches  into  such 
matters  as  the  pressing  of  recruits  for  the  New  Model,  and  the 
origin  of  the  term  Ironside  as  a  personal  epithet  of  Cromwell. 
Mr.  Osmund  Airy  has  very  kindly  given  me  valuable  suggestions 
for  the  Restoration  period  ;  and  throughout  the  whole  work  Miss 
Norgate  has  rendered  services  which  the  most  faithful  and  affec- 
tionate loyalty  could  alone  have  prompted. 

ALICE  S.  GREEN. 

December,  1887. 


PREFACE   TO   THE   FIRST   EDITION 


THE  aim  of  the  following  work  is  defined  by  its  title  ;  it  is  a 
history,  not  of  English  Kings  or  English  Conquests,  but  of  the 
English  People.  At  the  risk  of  sacrificing  much  that  was  inter- 
esting and  attractive  in  itself,  and  which  the  constant  usage  of 
our  historians  has  made  familiar  to  English  readers,  I  have 
preferred  to  pass  lightly  and  briefly  over  the  details  of  foreign 
wars  and  diplomacies,  the  personal  adventures  of  kings  and 
nobles,  the  pomp  of  courts,  or  the  intrigues  of  favourites,  and  to 
dwell  at  length  on  the  incidents  of  that  constitutional,  intellectual, 
and  social  advance  in  which  we  read  the  history  of  the  nation 
itself.  It  is  with  this  purpose  that  I  have  devoted  more  space 
to  Chaucer  than  to  Cressy,  to  Caxton  than  to  the  petty  strife 
of  Yorkist  and  Lancastrian,  to  the  Poor  Law  of  Elizabeth  than 
to  her  victory  at  Cadiz,  to  the  Methodist  revival  than  to  the  escape 
of  the  Young  Pretender. 

Whatever  the  worth  of  the  present  work  may  be,  I  have 
striven  throughout  that  it  should  never  sink  into  a  "drum  and 
trumpet  history."  It  is  the  reproach  of  historians  that  they  have 
too  often  turned  history  into  a  mere  record  of  the  butchery  of 
men  by  their  fellow-men.  But  war  plays  a  small  part  in  the 
real  story  of  European  nations,  and  in  that  of  England  its 
part  is  smaller  than  in  any.  The  only  war  which  has  profoundly 
affected  English  society  and  English  government  is  the  Hundred 
Years'  War  with  France,  and  of  that  war  the  results  were  simply 
evil.  If  I  have  said  little  of  the  glories  of  Cressy,  it  is  because 


PREFACE    TO    THE    FIRST  f  EDITION  xxv 

I  have  dwelt  much  on  the  wrong  and  misery  which  prompted 
the  verse  of  Longland  and  the  preaching  of  Ball.  But  on  the 
other  hand,  I  have  never  shrunk  from  telling  at  length  the 
triumphs  of  peace.  I  have  restored  to  their  place  among  the 
achievements  of  Englishmen  the  "  Faerie  Queen  "  and  the  "  Novum 
Organum."  I  have  set  Shakspere  among  the  heroes  of  the  Eliza- 
bethan age,  and  placed  the  scientific  inquiries  of  the  Royal 
Society  side  by  side  with  the  victories  of  the  New  Model.  If 
some  of  the  conventional  figures  of  military  and  political  history 
occupy  in  my  pages  less  than  the  space  usually  given  them,  it  is 
because  I  have  had  to  find  a  place  for  figures  little  heeded  in 
common  history — the  figures  of  the  missionary,  the  poet,  the 
printer,  the  merchant,  or  the  philosopher. 

In  England,  more  than  elsewhere,  constitutional  progress  has 
been  the  result  of  social  development.  In  a  brief  summary  of 
our  history  such  as  the  present,  it  was  impossible  to  dwell  as 
I  could  have  wished  to  dwell  on  every  phase  of  this  develop- 
ment ;  but  I  have  endeavoured  to  point  out,  at  great  crises,  such 
as  those  of  the  Peasant  Revolt  or  the  rise  of  the  New  Monarchy, 
how  much  of  our  political  history  is  the  outcome  of  social 
changes  ;  and  throughout  I  have  drawn  greater  attention  to  the 
religious,  intellectual,  and  industrial  progress  of  the  nation  itself 
than  has,  so  far  as  I  remember,  ever  been  done  in  any  previous 
history  of  the  same  extent. 

The  scale  of  the  present  work  has  hindered  me  from  giving 
in  detail  the  authorities  for  every  statement.  But  I  have  prefixed 
to  each  section  a  short  critical  account  of  the  chief  contemporary 
authorities  for  the  period  it  represents  as  well  as  of  the  most  useful 
modern  works  in  which  it  can  be  studied.  As  I  am  writing  for 
English  readers  of  a  general  class  I  have  thought  it  better  to 
restrict  myself  in  the  latter  case  to  English  books,  or  to  English 
translations  of  foreign  works  where  they  exist.  This  is  a  rule 
which  I  have  only  broken  in  the  occasional  mention  of  French 
books,  such  as  those  of  Guizot  or  Mignet,  well  known  and  within 
reach  of  ordinary  students.  I  greatly  regret  that  the  publication 


xxvi  PREFACE    TO    THE    FIRST    EDITION 

of  the  first  volume  of  the  invaluable  Constitutional  History  of 
Professor  Stubbs  came  too  late  for  me  to  use  it  in  my  account  of 
those  early  periods  on  which  it  has  thrown  so  great  a  light. 

I  am  only  too  conscious  of  the  faults  and  oversights  in  a  work, 
much  of  which  has  been  written  in  hours  of  weakness  and  ill 
health.  That  its  imperfections  are  not  greater  than  they  are, 
I  owe  to  the  kindness  of  those  who  have  from  time  to  time  aided 
me  with  suggestions  and  corrections  ;  and  especially  to  my  dear 
friend  Mr.  E.  A.  Freeman,  who  has  never  tired  of  helping  me  with 
counsel  and  criticism.  Thanks  for  like  friendly  help  are  due  to 
Professor  Stubbs  and  Professor  Bryce,  and  in  literary  matters  to 
the  Rev.  Stopford  Brooke,  whose  wide  knowledge  and  refined 
taste  have  been  of  the  greatest  service  to  me. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS,    607 — 1013 


J'A<;E 


Sect.  i. — Britain  and  the  English i 

„     2. — The  English  Conquest,  449 — 577 12 

,,     3. — The  Northumbrian  Kingdom,  588 — 685 29 

„     4. — The  Three  Kingdoms,  685 — 828 66 

„     5. — Wessex  and  the  Danes,  802 — 880 83 

,,     6. — The  West-Saxon  Realm,  893 — 1013 98 


CHAPTER  II 

ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS,    1013 — 1204 

Sect.  i. — The  Danish  Kings,  1013 — 1042 118 

V 

„     2. — The  English  Restoration,  1042 — 1066 128 

„     3. — Normandy  and  the  Normans,  912  — 1066 133 

,,     4. — The  Conqueror,  1042 — 1066 138 

„     5. — The  Norman  Conquest,  1068 — 1071 151 

„     6. — The  English  Revival,  1071  — 1127 163 

„     7. — England  and  Anjou,  870 — 1154 185 

„     8. — Henry  the  Second,  1154 — 1189 197 

„     9. — The  fall  of  the  Angevins,  1189 — 1204 213 


xxviii  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  GREAT  CHARTER,  1204 — 1265 


PAGE 


Sect.  i. — English  Literature  under  the  Norman  and  Angevin  Kings  221 

„     2.— John,  1204—1215 231 

„     3. — The  Great  Charter,  1215 — 1217 240 

„     4. — The  Universities 247 

„     5. — Henry  the  Third,  1216 — 1257 266 

„     6. — The  Friars 279 

„     7.— The  Barons' War,  1258  —  1265 289 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE   THREE    EDWARDS,    1265  — 1360 

» 

Sect.  i. — The  Conquest  of  Wales,   1265 — 1284 305 

„     2. — The  English  Parliament,  1283 — 1295 322 

„     3. — The  Conquest  of  Scotland,  1290  — 1305 345 

„     4. — The  English  Towns 368 

,,     5. — The  King  anjd  the  Baronage,  1290 — 1327 385 

„     6.  — The  Scotch  War  of  Independence,  1306 — 1342 404 


CHAPTER  V 

/ 

THE    HUNDRED    YEARS'    WAR,    1336 — 1431 

Sect.  i. — Edward  the  Third,  1336 — 1360 414 

,,     2. — The  Good  Parliament,  1360 — 1377    .    .        444 

»     3-— John  Wyclif 452 


NOTES    ON    THE    ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGB 

S.  MATTHEW,  FROM  THE  BOOK  OF  KELLS To  face         i 

The  "  Book  of  Kells"  is  a  MS.  of  the  Gospels,  in  Latin,  written  in  Ireland 
(c.  A.D.  650-690).  It  was  anciently  called  "  the  Great  Gospels  of  Columba," 
as  being  the  chief  treasure  of  the  church  at  Kells,  of  which  S.  Columba  was 
the  founder  and  patron.  In  1006  the  book  was  stolen,  together  with  the  case 
or  shrine  of  gold  in  which  it  was  kept  according  to  Irish  custom  ;  the  book 
alone  was  recovered,  and  remained  at  Kells  till  it  passed  into  the  hands  of 
Ussher,  when  Bishop  of  Meath.  Ussher's  library,  confiscated  during  the 
Commonwealth,  was  finally  given  by  Charles  II.  to  Trinity  College,  Dublin, 
where  the  Book  of  Kells  is  still  preserved.  The  MS.  is  one  of  the  finest, 
productions  of  the  Irish  school  of  illumination,  containing  perfect  specimens 
of  the  interlaced,  spiral,  and  trumpet  patterns,  and  of  the  treatment  of  human 
and  animal  figures  characteristic  of  Irish  art ;  all  these  are  exemplified  in 
the  page  selected  for  the  present  illustration. 

SHIELD,  BEFORE  A.D.  450  (Worsaae,  "  Industrial  Arts  of  Denmark"}    ....          2 

Made  of  wood,  with  bronze  mountings,  and  a  boss  in  the  centre  to 
protect  the  hand.  Found  in  Jutland ;  dates  from  the  Earlier  Iron  Age, 
A.D.  i — 450. 

MAILCOAT,  BEFORE  A.  D.  450  ( Worsaae,  "  Industrial  Arts  of  Denmark  "  )   ...          3 

Belongs  to  same  period  as  the  shield.  Made  of  rings  of  iron  ;  was  found 
in  a  bog  in  Jutland. 

SILVER  HELMET,  BEFORE  AD.  450  (IVorsaae,  "  Industrial  Arts  of  Denmark")          3 
Silver,  ornamented  with  gold.     Same  period. 

PART  OF  A  HELMET,  IRON  OVERLAID  WITH    BRONZE  (Montelius,  "  Civiliza- 
tion of  Sweden ").... 4 

The  helmet,  of  which  a  part  is  here  represented,  was  found  in  a  grave  at 
Vendel,  North  Upland.  It  dates  from  the  Middle  Iron  Age  (c.  A.D.  450 — 700) 
and  furnishes  a  curious  representation  of  an  ancient  northern  warrior. 

SILVER  C'UP  (Montelius,  "  Civilization  of  Sweden"  ) 5 

Silver,  partly  gilded.     Found  in  Denmark.     Period,  A.D.  I — 450. 

EARTHENWARE  EWER  (Montclius,  "  Civilization  of  Sweden"  ) 5 

Found  in  Gotland  ;  dates  from  the  Earlier  Iron  Age,  and  is,  like  all  earthen 
vessels  of  that  period,  unglazed. 

Two  HORNS,  FIFTH  CENTURY  (Worsaae,  "  Ind-tstrial  Arts  of  Denmark")    .    .         6 

These  horns  were  found  at  Gallehus,  in  North  Jutland,  the  perfect  one 
in  1639,  the  broken  one  in  1734.  The  former  was  2  ft.  9  in.  long,  and 
weighed  6  Ibs.  7  oz.  ;  the  latter,  having  lost  its  smaller  end,  was  only 
I  ft.  9  in.  long,  but  weighed  7  Ibs.  7  oz.  Both  were  of  gold,  and  engraved 
with  subjects  from  northern  mythology.  They  were  stolen  and  melted  down 
in  1802,  but  accurate  drawings  of  them  had  been  made,  from  which  later 
representations  have  been  copied. 

HEAD  OF  THUNDER  (Stephens,  "Thunor  the  Thunderer") 7 

A  pendant  of  silver,  parcel  gilt,  in  the  shape  of  a  hammer,  the  upper 
part  wrought  into  the  semblance  of  a  head  somewhat  like  that  of  a  bird. 
This  head,  and  the  hammer,  were  both  recognized  emblems  of  Thor 


NOTES   ON   THE  ILLUSTRATIONS 


PACK 

(Thunder),  and  the  numerous  ornaments  of  this  character  which  occur  in 
finds  of  the  Middle  and  Later  Iron  Age  (A.D.  450  — 1000)  were  probably 
worn  by  his  worshippers  somewhat  as  a  crucifix  might  be  worn  in  later 
days.  The  pendant  here  figured  was  found  in  1875  at  Enkstorp,  East 
Gotland. 

BRACTEATES   REPRESENTING   NORTHERN    DIVINITIES   (Worsaae,    "Industrial 

Arts  of  Denmark  " ) 8 

The  pendent  ornaments,  resembling  medals  or  coins,  called  bracteates 
(from  the  Latin  brae  a,  a  thin  plate)  seem  to  have  been  commonly  used 
for  personal  adornmen  both  by  men  and  women,  throughout  the  Middle  Iron 
Age.  They  are  of  gold,  usually  stamped  with  figures,  runes,  or  interlaced 
patterns,  and  often  with  a  border  of  fine  decoration  made  with  a  punch.  The 
two  bracteates  here  figured  are  decorated  w,ith  religious  subjects.  The  larger 
one  bears  a  head  representing  Thunder,  above  a  he-goat,  an  animal  sacred  to 
that  god,  and  a  "swastika  '  or  'fylfot  '  cross  with  bent  arms),  which  was 
another  of  his  emblems,  together  with  the  three  dots  symbolizing  the  Scan- 
dinavian trinity,  Thunder,  Woden,  and  Frea.  The  border  is  formed  of  the 
"triskele,:>  or  three  armed  figure,  which  was  the  sign  of  Woden,  the  plain 
cross  emblematic  of  Frea,  and  a  zigzag  to  represent  lightning,  while  the  tri- 
angle below  the  loop  is  filled  with  suns  or  moon;.  The  smaller  bracteate  bears 
a  head  of  Thunder,  having  on  one  side  Woden's  "tnskele,  '  on  the  other  a 
figure  holding  a  sword,  and  three  crosses  to  represent  the  sun  or  Frea. 

BOAT  FOR  FOURTEEN  PAIRS  OF  OARS,  FOUND  AT  NYDAM,  SOUTH  JUTLAND 

(Mont el ius   "  Civilization  oj "Sweden  ')          II 

One  of  two  ; '  clinch-built  '  boats,  of  the  Earlier  Iron  Age,  found  in  a  peat- 
bog at  Nydam  in  1863.  The  boat  here  figured  was  of  oak,  the  other  of  pine. 
"  They  were  large  and  open,  pointed  at  both  ends,  designed  only  for  rowing, 
with  no  trace  of  a  mast.  Both  boats  differ  from  those  now  generally  in  use, 
by  the  peculiar  way  in  which  the  planks  are  fastened  to  the  ribs.  The  oak 
boat,  which  is  remarkable  for  its  very  supple  and  graceful  form,  is  78  ft.  between 
the  high  points  at  the  stem  and  stern,  and  10  ft  9  in.  broad  midships  ;  it  was 
rowed  with  14  pairs  of  oars  These  are  exactly  like  those  still  used  in  the 
North,  and  are  1 1  ft  2  in  long.  The  rudder  19  narrow,  and  was  fastened  to 
one  side  of  the  boat  near  the  stern  end  .  .  .  During  the  later  part  of  the 
heathen  times  the  boats  were  always  drawn  up  on  land  for  the  winter,  or  when 
they  were  not  wanted  for  some  time  The  boats  found  at  Nydam  have  holes 
at  the  ends,  for  the  rone  by  which  they  were  hauled  on  land."  (Montelius, 
trans.  Woods,  pp.  115  117  ) 

EBBSFI.EF/T  13 

From  a  sketch  made  in  1890. 

RlCHBOROUGH  14 

Showing  part  of  the  Roman  wall 

KIT'S  COTY  HOUSE 16 

ROMAN  KENT  .    .       .       18 

BRITAIN  AND  THE  ENGLISH  CONQUEST        21 

OLD  ENGLISH  COMBS  (Akerman,      Pa^an  Saxondom") 24 

Made  of  bone  ,  found  in  the  last  century  m  graves  of  women,  on  Kingston 
Down. 

OID  ENGLISH  BUCKLES  ....  25 

Found  in  barrows  on  Breach  Down  and  at  Sittingbourne.  The  small  buckles 
were  in  the  grave  of  a  child 

OLD  ENGLISH  KEYS  (Akerman,   "  Pagan  Saxondom ") 25 

Found  in  a  woman's  grave,  in  the  cemetery  on  Ojengall  Hill,  Kent.  The 
keys  are  hung  on  a  ring  formed  by  a  bronze  wire  twisted  through  a  bronze 
fibula, 

PLATINGS  OF  AN  OLD  ENGLISH  BUCKET  (Akerman,   "  Pagan  Saxondom  '*}  .    .  26 

Found  in  a  woman's  grave,  at  Linton  Heath,  Cambridgeshire. 

OLD  ENGLISH  FIBUL/E 26 

The  first  of  these  fibulae,  or  brooches,  is  of  gilt  bronze,  and  remarkable  for 
the  purely  Teutonic  character  of  its  ornamentation,  which  includes  an  early 
form  of  what  was  afterwards  known  as  \\itfleur-de-lis.  It  was  found  in  one  of 


NOTES   ON   THE   ILLUSTRATIONS  iii 


PACK 

the  ancient  graves  at  Fairford,  Gloucestershire,  and  is  here  engraved  from 
Akerman's  "  Pagan  Saxondom."  The  second  fibula  (now  in  the  Collection 
of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries)  is  also  of  bronze  gilt  ;  it  was  found  in  1785  near 
Rothley  Temple,  Leicestershire.  The  third  was  found  at  Abingdon,  and  is 
now  in  the  British  Museum.  Its  surface  is  encrusted  with  garnet-coloured  glass 
laid  on  a  background  of  gold  foil,  and  interspersed  with  plates  of  thin  gold 
with  gold  wire  laid  on  ;  the  round  bosses  are  of  ivory  or  bone,  with  garnet- 
coloured  glass  on  the  apex.  The  back  has  been  drawn  to  show  the  mode  of 
fastening. 

OLD  ENGLISH  GLASS  VESSELS  (Akerman,  "  Pagan  Saxondom") .        27 

Pale  blue  glass  ;  found  at  Cuddesdon. 

OLD  ENGLISH  SPOON 28 

This  spoon  is  of  silver,  ornamented  with  garnets.  It  was  found  in  a  barrow 
at  Chatham,  and  is  now  in  thj  Ashmolean  Museum,  Oxford. 

OLD  ENGLISH  FORK  (Akerman,  "  Pagan  Saxondom ") 28 

Of  iron,  with  handle  of  deershorn.  Found  in  an  Old  English  burial-ground 
at  Harnham,  near  Salisbury,  in  the  grave  of  a  young  man,  whose  remains 
were  lying  with  this  fork,  a  knife,  flint  and  steel,  all  within  the  extended  right 
arm. 

BRITAIN  IN  593      30 

S.  LUKE  THE  EVANGELIST 32 

From  a  book  of  the  Gospels  traditionally  believed  to  have  been  brought  to 
Canterbury  by  S.  Augustine  ;  now  in  the  library  of  Corpus  Christi  College, 
Cambridge,  to  which  it  was  given  by  Archbishop  Parker. 

SCEATTAS 33 

The  earliest  known  English  coins  are  small  silver  pieces  called  sceattas,  of 
uncertain  value  and  date  ;  it  is  doubtful  whether  they  were  brought  over  by 
the  English  settlers,  or  struck  by  them  after  their  settlement.  They  form, 
however,  a  connecting  link  between  the  genuine  Roman  coins  and  those  of 
ascertained  English  origin.  The  only  coins  on  which  Runic  characters  are 
found  unaccompanied  by  any  Roman  legend  are  some  of  these  sceattas,  one  of 
which  is  figured  here.  The  other  two  examples  are  clearly  imitations  of 
Roman  types. 

BRITAIN  IN  626 36 

OLD  ENGLISH  GLASS  VESSELS  (Akerman,  "  Pagan  Saxondom") 37 

The  first  of  these  was  found  at  Woodnesborough,  and  is  of  a  delicate  brown 
tint,  like  the  colour  of  a  dead  leaf.  The  second  was  found  at  Gilton,  near 
Sandwich,  and  is  of  a  transparent  light  green  hue.  The  third,  of  a  pale 
yellowish  green  colour,  was  found  at  Reculver  and  is  now  in  the  museum  at 
Canterbury. 

OLD  ENGLISH  PATERA  (Akerman,  "Pagan  Saxondom") 38 

Found  at  Wingham.     It  is  of  bronze,  and  shows  traces  of  Roman  influence. 
BRITAIN  IN  634 40 

OLD  ENGLISH  CROSS 41 

A  pendent  ornament  in  shape  of  a  cross  ;  gold  inlaid  with  coloured  glass. 
Found  in  Norfolk  ;  now  in  British  Museum. 

FRAGMF.NT  OF  A  SUIT  OF  BRONZE  RING  MAIL,  IRISH 41 

Now  in  Museum  of  Royal  Irish  Academy,  Dublin.  This  fragment  was  found, 
3  ft.  under  the  surface,  in  burning  a  reclaimed  bog  adjoining  the  old  castle  of 
the  O'Conors,  near  the  town  of  Roscommon.  Such  an  ornamental  suit  of 
mail  as  that  of  which  it  once  formed  part  "  probably  served,  when  worn  over 
or  attached  to  a  buff-coat,  the  double  purpose  of  defence  and  decorative 
costume  ;  and  was,  in  all  likelihood,  a  portion  of  the  paraphernalia  of  office 
in  days  gone  by."  (NVilde,  Catal.  of  Antiqu.  in  Museum  of  R.  I.  A.t  p.  576.) 

NIELLO  PENDENT  HOOK,  IRISH 42 

This  hook,  also  in  the  Museum  of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy,  is  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  specimens  of  Irish  skill  in  the  art  of  inlaying  bronze  with  silver 
and  some  dark-coloured  metal.     It  is  thought  that  its  use  may  have  been  to 
suspend  a  sword. 
VOL  I— C 


iv  NOTES   ON   THE   ILLUSTRATIONS 


PACK 

LATE  CELTIC  BRONZE  Disc 42 

A  large  number  of  bronze  discs,  whose  workmanship  shows  that  they  belong 
to  the  later  period  of  Celtic  art,  have  been  found  in  Ireland  and  in  no  other 
country.  It  is  thought  that  they  may  have  formed  portions  of  shields  The  disc 
here  figured  is  in  the  Museum  of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy  ;  it  is  about  II  in. 
in  diameter,  and  furnishes  a  good  example  in  metal  work  of  the  divergent 
spiral  or  trumpet-pattern  seen  in  the  illuminations  of  the  Book  of  Kells  and 
other  MSS.  of  the  Irish  school. 

ORNAMENT  OF  GILDED  BRONZE,  FOUND  IN  GOTLAND  (Afontelius  '   Civilization 

of  Sweden  ") 42 

PLATE  OF  GILDED  BRONZE  (from  tk  •  same^ 43 

These  two  objects,  both  found  in  Gotland  and  dating  from  the  Earlier  Iron 
Age  (c  A  D.  I — 450),  show  a  remarkable  resemblance  with  the  forms  of 
ornamentation  common  in  Irish  art. 

INITIAL  N  (Vokes    '   Early  Christian  Art  in  Ireland") 44 

From  the  Book  of  Kells. 

BRITAIN  IN  640 45 

IRISH  OGHAM  STONE  ...  46 

Two  views  of  a  stone  4$  ft.  high  and  about  1 1  in.  across,  bearing  an  inscrip- 
tion in  the  ancient  Celtic  or  Ogham  characters,  which  prevailed  in  Ireland  down 
to  its  conversion  to  Christianity,  and  remained  in  use  for  some  time  after  the 
introduction  of  the  Roman  alphabet.  The  Ogham  letters  were  formed  of 
groups  of  incised  lines  and  dots  arranged  along  a  stem  line.  The  stone  here 
figured,  now  in  the  Museum  of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy,  was  found  with  three 
others  built  into  the  walls  of  a  house  in  county  Kerry  ,  they  are  believed  to 
have  been  removed  thither  from  the  underground  chamber  of  a  neighbouring 
rath  (fort). 

COIN  OF  PEADA ....       47 

An  unique  coin  (silver),  in  the  British  Museum  ;  attributed  to  Penda  son 
Peada,  whom  he  set  over  the  Middle  English  in  652 

MONASTIC  CELL,  SKELLIG  MICHAEL  (Anderson,    '  Scotland  in  Early  Christian 

Tinges  ") .        .    .  48 

One  of  the  very  ancient  monastic  buildings  on  the  Great  Skellig  'an  island 
ofT  the  coast  of  Kerry)  These  form  a  good  example  of  the  method  of  building 
common  to  the  forts  of  heathen  Ireland  in  the  age  before  :ts  conversion,  and  to 
its  earliest  Christian  establishments,  viz  a  building,  or  group  of  buildings, 
surrounded  by  a  wall  (cashel),  all  built  of  dry  stone  without  cement  The 
original  monastery  at  lona  must  have  been  of  this  type  The  hut  here  figured 
is  built  of  slate  .  its  religious  character  is  marked  by  the  cross  of  white  quartz- 
stone  inserted  above  the  door  The  projecting  stones  in  the  wall  and  roof  may 
have  served  for  standing  on,  or  putting  planks  across,  while  building  The 
beehive  shape  of  the  hut  seems  to  be  a  transition  towards  a  more  convenient 
form,  shown  in  the  next  illustration 

ORATORY    AT   GALLARUS,    co.    KERRY     Stokes.    '  Early    Christ  an    Art    in 

Ireland^'} 49 

A  higher  development  of  the  type  shown  in  p.  48.  This  oratory  is  15  ft. 
3  in.  long,  -o  ft.  2  in.  wide,  and  10  ft  high  ,  the  dome  is  formed  by  the  pro- 
jection of  one  stone  beyond  another  till  thev  meet  at  the  top.  A  the  east  end 
is  a  window,  i  ft.  wide,  with  a  round  headed  arch  cut  out  of  one  stone  ;  a*  the 
west  end  is  a  door,  with  sides  and  lintel  of  dressed  stone.  O^er  the  lintel,  in- 
side, are  two  projecting  stones  pierced  at  each  end  vertically  by  large  holes, 
probably  to  suspend  a  wooden  door  by  a  hinge. 

BRITAIN  IN  658 50 

BELL    OF    CUMASCACH  MAC    AILLELLO    (Stokes,  "Eatly    Christian    Art    in 

Ireland")  .  51 

Cumascach  Mac  Aillello  was  steward  to  the  monastery  of  Armagh,  and  died 
908.  This  bell,  on  which  his  name  is  inscribed,  is  of  cast  bronze,  iij  in.  high, 
nnd  8  in.  across  at  base  ;  the  handle  and  clapper  are  of  iron. 

OLD   ENGLISH   CLASPS    (Akerman,  "  Pagan  Saxendcm ") 55 

Found  at  Crondale,  in  Hampshire. 


NOTES   ON   THE   ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

ENGLISH  NECKLACES 56 

Made  of  glass  beads  of  various  colours.  Both  necklaces  are  now  in  the 
British  Museum.  The  one  with  coins  or  bracteates  attached  was  found  at  Sarre, 
the  other  at  Faversham. 

BRITAIN  IN  665 61 

COIN  OF  ECGFRITH 62 

A  styca  of  copper,  the  usual  coinage  of  Northumbria,  of  which  Ecgfrith's 
coins  are  the  earliest  examples.  The  Northumbrian  coinage  seems  to  have  been 
more  directly  connected  with  the  old  Roman  currency  than  that  of  the  southern 
kingdoms,  and  the  use  of  copper  was  probably  due  to  the  existence  of  a  greater 
number  of  Roman  copper  coins  in  the  district  north  of  the  Humber.  Ecgfrith's 
styca  bears  on  its  obverse  "  Ecgfrid  Rex  "  and  a  small  cross  ;  on  the  reverse,  an 
irradiated  cross  with  the  word  "  Lux,"  possibly  symbolical  of  his  efforts  to 
spread  the  light  of  the  true  faith  among  his  people. 
OGHAM  STONE  AT  NEWTON,  ABERDEENSHIRE  (Anderson,  "  Scotland  in  Early 

Christian  Times") 62 

This  stone,  which  originally  stood  on  the  moor  of  Pitmachie,  about  a  mile 
from  its  present  site,  is  the  only  monument  of  its  kind  in  Scotland  which  bears 
inscriptions  in  two  different  alphabets  :  that  on  its  edge  being  in  Ogham  charac- 
ters, while  that  on  its  flattest  side  is  in  debased  Roman  minuscules.  In  the 
middle  of  this  latter  inscription  is  cut  the  fylfot,  or  cross  with  bent  arms,  the 
old  northern  symbol  of  Thunder,  which  seems  to  have  been  used  in  Christian 
monuments  of  Celtic  origin. 

DAVID  AND  HIS  CHOIR 64 

From  an  early  eighth  century  MS.  (Cotton  Vespasian  A.  L,  British  Museum). 
It  formerly  belonged  to  S.  Augustine's  Abbey,  Canterbury,  but  was  written  and 
illuminated  by  an  Anglo-Irish  scribe,  as  may  be  clearly  seen  in  the  trumpet- 
pattern  of  the  canopy  over  the  group  of  minstrels  and  dancers.  The  two  upper 
figures  on  each  side  of  David  are  thought  to  be  scribes  holding  styles,  one 
having  in  his  left  hand  a  roll,  the  other  an  open  book,  or  a  waxen  tablet  for 
writing. 

S.  JOHN  THE  EVANGELIST to  face  p.       66 

From  the  "  Lindisfarne  "  or  "Durham"  Gospel-book,  (MS.  Cotton  Nero  D. 
iv.,  British  Museum).  This  book,  once  the  property  of  the  cathedral  church  of 
Durham,  is  the  finest  extant  specimen  of  early  English  illumination.  It  was 
written  at  Lindisfarne,  "for  God  and  S.  Cuthbert,"  by  Eadfrith,  who  was 
bishop  of  that  see,  A.D  698-721  ;  and  adorned  with  paintings  by  ^tthelwald, 
who  was  a  monk  there  under  Eadfrith  and  succeeded  him  as  bishop.  These 
paintings  consist  of  elaborate  designs  in  spiral  and  interlaced  work  after  the 
Irish  manner,  and  figures  of  the  Evangelists.  The  figures  are  curious  as  show- 
ing the  beginnings  of  a  native  English  school  of  art,  founded  on  late  Roman  or 
rather  Byzantine  models,  but  marked  by  a  new  freedom  and  boldness  of  treat- 
ment which  from  the  first  gives  it  a  distinct  character  of  its  own. 
CHURCH  AT  BRADFORD  ON  AVON  (Journal  of  the  Archaological  Association}  .  68 

One  of  the  foundations  of  Bishop  Ealdhelm  of  Sherborne,  "the  church 
which  he  erected  on  the  scene  of  Cenwealh's  victory  at  Bradford-on- Avon,  stands 
in  almost  perfect  preservation  to-day"  ("  Making  of 'England" 'p.  341).  This 
little  building,  the  only  complete  specimen  now  remaining  of  early  English 
construction  in  stone,  lay  hidden  for  centuries  behind  a  pile  of  modern  buildings 
till  in  1857  it  was  re-'Uscovered,  and  acknowledged  to  be  the  identical  "little 
church"  (ecclestola)  dedicated  to  S.  Laurence  and  built  by  Ealdhelm,  which 
William  of  Malmesbury  mentions  (Gesta  Pontif.,  1.  v.  c.  198)  as  existing  at 
Bradford  in  his  time,  though  the  monastery  once  attached  to  it  had  perished. 

BEGINNING  OF  S.  LUKE'S  GOSPEL  (Lindisfarne  Gospel-Book) 70 

No  reproduction  in  black  and  white  can  convey  an  adequate  idea  of  the 
beauty  of  the  decorative  work  in  this  MS.,  and  of  the  marvellous  effect  given 
to  the  interlaced  patterns  by  an  exquisite  use  of  colours.  This  page  is  given 
as  a  specimen  of  the  large  decorated  initials,  whose  form  and  style  show  how 
strong  was  the  Irish  influence  still  abiding  at  Lindisfarne,  and  also  of  the  calli- 
graphy of  the  book.  To  the  Latin  text,  written  by  Bishop  Eadfrith,  the  inter- 
linear gloss  in  the  Northumbrian  dialect  was  added,  seemingly  about  the 
middle  of  the  tenth  century,  by  a  priest  named  Aldred,  who  also  inserted  in 
the  volume  two  notes  which  are  the  authority  for  its  history. 


vi  NOTES   ON    THE   ILLUSTRATIONS 


DAVID  AS  PSALMIST 

From  a  M.S.  of  Cassiodorus  on  the  Psalms,  dating  from  the  eighth  century, 
and  traditionally  said  to  have  been  written  by  Baeda's  own  hand.  It  belongs  to 
the  library  of  Durham  Cathedral. 

DAVID  AS  WARRIOR .....,..: 75 

From  the  same  MS. 

COIN  OF  OFFA ....        76 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  eighth  century  the  sceatta  was  superseded  by  a  thinner 
broader  coin,  also  of  silver,  and  called  a  penny.  The  idea  of  these  coins  seems  to 
have  been  derived  from  the  "  new  denarii  "  introduced  in  Frankland  by  Pepin, 
c.  750,  and  they  thus  illustrate  the  new  connexion  between  the  English  king 
doms  and  the  Prankish  court  which  is  described  in  pp.  78-82.  The  English 
coiners,  however,  developed  a  type  of  their  o  vn  by  introducing  the  king's 
head,  which  scarcely  ever  appears  on  the  Carolingian  coins,  and  for  which 
models  were  found  in  the  Roman  or  Byzantine  solidi,  then  almost  the  only  gold 
coins  current  in  northern  Europe.  On  its  reverse  the  penny  bore  the  name  of 
the  moneyer.  The  series  of  pennies  begins  with  Offa  ;  henceforth  they  are  the 
usual  coinage  of  English  kings. 

BRITAIN  IN  792 77 

S.  MATTHEW,  FROM  THE  GOSPEL-BOOK  OF  S.  BONIFACE 79 

S.  Boniface,  having  resigned  his  bishopric  of  Mainz,  went  in  754  as  a  mis- 
sionary to  Frisia,  and  was  there  martyred  on  June  5,  755.  His  remains  were 
afterwards  removed  to  Fulda,  an  abbey  which  he  had  founded  in  Bavaria.  On 
the  site  of  his  martyrdom  were  found  three  little  books  ;  one  a  New  Testament 
of  Italian  origin,  bearing  the  autograph  of  Victor,  bishop  of  Capua  in  546  ; 
another  a  treatise  of  S.  Isidore,  in  Lombardic  characters,  pierced,  cut,  and 
stained  with  blood  ;  the  third  a  small  octavo  volume  containing  the  Gospels 
written  in  a  very  small  minuscule  Irish  character,  and  adorned  with  figures 
of  the  four  Evangelists,  one  of  which  is  reproduced  here.  The  monks  of 
Fulda,  where  the  book  is  still  preserved,  have  added  at  the  end  an  inscription 
stating  that  Abbot  Huoggi  received  it  from  King  Arnulf,  and  that  it  was 
written  with  S.  Boniface  s  own  hand  ;  this  last  statement  however  is  wrong, 
for  the  real  scribe  has  concluded  his  work  with  his  name,  in  the  usual  Irish 
fashion:  "Finit.  Amen.  Deo  gratias  ago.  Vidrug  scribsit. " 

BEGINNING  OF  THE  BOOK  OF  EXODUS,  FROM  ALCUIN'S  BIBLE 80 

One  of  the  works  undertaken  by  Alcuin  at  the  desire  of  Charles  the  Great 
was  a  revision  of  the  Latin  text  of  the  Bible,  already  much  corrupted  since 
S.  Jerome's  day  by  the  carelessness  and  ignorance  of  copyists.  A  magnificent 
copy  of  the  Vulgate,  thus  "diligently  emended,"  was  prepared  under  Alcuin's 
personal  superintendence,  if  not  actually  by  his  own  hand,  and  sent  by  him  as 
a  gift  to  Charles  on  the  day  of  his  crowning  at  Rome.  There  is  good  reason  to 
believe  that  this  is  the  volume  now  numbered  10,546  among  the  Additional 
MSS.  in  the  British  Museum  It  is  a  large  folio,  written  in  double  columns  on 
extremely  fine  vellum,  in  small  minuscule  characters  of  what  is  known  as  the 
Caroline  type.  From  this  splendid  example  of  tne  improved  style  of  writing 
which  came  into  use  under  Charles,  the  initial  letter  and  opening  words  of  the 
Book  of  Exodus  are  here  reproduced. 

MOSES  GIVING  THE   LAW 8l 

Part  of  a  full-page  illumination  placed  opposite  the  beginning  of  Exodus  in 
Alcuin's  Bible.  The  upper  half  of  the  picture  represents  Moses  receiving  the 
Law  on  Mount  Sinai ;  the  lower,  here  reproduced,  shows  him  delivering  the 
Law  to  Aaron  and  the  people  of  Israel.  The  colouring  of  the  original  is  most 
brilliant;  the  mountain  seems  indeed  to  "burn  with  fire."  But  the  chief 
interest  lies  in  the  figures  of  Moses  and  Aaron.  The  latter  is  arrayed  rather 
as  a  king  than  as  a  priest  ;  and  it  is  thought  that  these  two  figures  may  be 
actual  portraits  of  Alcuin  and  Charles,  the  great  teacher  presenting  to  the 
Emperor  the  result  of  his  labours  on  Holy  Writ. 
COIN  OF  ECGBERHT 82 

The  earliest  West-Saxon  coins  are  those  of  Ecgberht.  From  him  the  series 
of  silver  pennies  is  continued  without  a  break,  as  the  sole  coinage  of  the 
English  realm  and  almost  the  sole  currency  of  the  British  Isles,  till  the  time  of 
Edward  I. 


NOTES   ON   THE   ILLUSTRATIONS  vii 


PAGE 

BRONZE  PLATE  WITH  FIGURES  OF  NORTHERN  WARRIORS  (Montelius,  "Civili- 
zation of  Sweden  "  ) 84. 

Four  of  these  plates,  with  figures  in  relief,  were  found  in  1870  in  a  cairn  at 
Bji3rnhofda  in  Gland  (Sweden) ;  they  furnish  a  curious  illustration  of  a  Swedish 
warrior's  accoutrements  in  the  early  wiking  days. 

LINES  OF  NORTHERN  INVASIONS 85 

SOLDIER,  NINTH  CENTURY 86 

From  a  MS.  in  the  archiepiscopal  library  at  Lambeth,  known  as  the  Gospel- 
book  of  MacDurnan,  who  was  abbot  of  Derry  before  885,  and  archbishop  of 
Armagh  885-927.  The  figure  here  given  occurs  in  a  picture  of  the  Betrayal, 
and  forms  one  of  a  group  of  soldiers  whom  the  artist  has  clothed  and  armed 
as  warriors  of  his  own  day. 

COIN  OF  EADMUND  OF  EAST  ANGLIA 87 

ALFRED'S  JEWEL 90 

A  jewel  of  blue  enamel  inclosed  in  a  setting  of  gold,  with  the  words  round 
it,  "  Alfred  had  me  wrought "  ;  found  at  Athelney  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
and  now  preserved  in  the  Ashmolean  Museum  at  Oxford. 

ENGLAND  AT  TREATY  OF  WEDMORE 91 

COIN  OF  ALFRED     .   .    .   .  • 93 

TOMBSTONE  OF  SUIBINE  MAC  MAEL/EHUMAI  (Petrie  and  Stokes,  "  Christian 

Inscriptions  in  Ireland ")  .    .     • 94 

Suibine  Mac  Maelaehumai  was  an  "anchorite  and  scribe  of  Clonmacnois," 
who  died,  according  to  the  Irish  annals,  in  887.  The  English  Chronicle, 
however,  records  the  death  of  "  Swifneh,  the  best  teacher  that  was  among  the 
Scots,"  in  891  or  892,  the  same  year  in  which  three  "Scots  from  Ireland" 
came  to  visit  Alfred.  Suibine's  tombstone  is  a  "perfect  type  of  the  highly 
ornamental  Irish  cross  ....  offering  fine  examples  of  the  divergent  spiral 
and  diagonal  patterns  peculiar  to  the  early  Celtic  art  of  these  islands."  (Petrie 
and  Stokes,  i.,  40.) 

ST.  MATTHEW 96 

From  the  Gospel-book  of  MacDurnan  (see  above).  This  MS.  illustrates  a 
variety  of  Irish  art  differing  from  that  represented  by  the  Book  of  Kells ;  it 
contains  no  examples  of  the  spiral  pattern.  The  figures  of  the  Evangelists  are 
remarkable  as  giving  early  representations  of  the  pastoral  staff. 

Coi.v  OF  EADWARD  THE  ELDER  ....       99 

THE  CAMPAIGNS  OF  EADWARD  AND  .^THELFL^ED 100 

ARCHER,  TENTH  CENTURY 100 

One  of  the  initial  letters  in  a  calendar,  designed  by  an  English  hand,  and 
prefixed  to  a  Psalter  traditionally  said  to  have  belonged  to  yEthelstan  (MS. 
Cotton  Galba  A.  xviii.,  British  Museum). 

FIGURE  OF  CHRIST,  AND  SILVER  CUP  ( IVorsaae,  "Industrial  Arts  of  Denmark")     101 

Found  in  the  huge  double  barrow  in  which  the  heathen  king  Gorm  the  Old, 
founder  of  the  Danish  monarchy  (c.  900-936),  and  his  Christian  wife  Thyra, 
were  buried  side  by  side  at  Jelling  in  Jutland.  The  figure  is  of  wood  ;  it  repre- 
sents Christ,  but  is  surrounded  by  the  triskele,  the  old  symbol  of  Woden. 
The  cup  is"  of  silver,  gilt  inside,  and  ornamented  with  an  old  half  mytho- 
logical pattern  of  twisted  snakes  and  fantastic  animals. 

COIN  OF  vETHELSTAN IOI 

S.  JOHN  THE  EVANGELIST loa 

From  a  Gospel-book  (MS.  Cotton  Tiberius  A.  ii.,  British  Museum)  seem- 
ingly written  in  Germany,  presented  by  Otto  II.  and  his  mother  (/Ethelstan's 
sister)  to  ^Ethelstan,  and — according  to  an  inscription  added  in  the  fifteenth 
century — designed  by  him  for  use  at  the  crowning  of  English  kings.  A  charter 
of  ^Ethelstan  to  Archbishop  Wulfhelm  of  Canterbury  has  been  copied,  in  a  con- 
temporary hand,  between  the  table  of  contents  and  the  Eusebian  Canons  ;  and 
prefixed  to  the  Gospel  of  S.  Matthew,  beneath  an  inscription  in  large  golden 
Roman  capitals,  "Incipit  Evangeliu  secundu  Mattheu,"  are  the  signatures 


viii  NOTES   ON    THE    ILLUSTRATIONS 


"  Odda  Rex  "  and  "  Mihtild  mater  Regis."  The  figures  of  the  EvangeJists  are 
placed  each  at  the  opening  of  his  Gospel,  within  a  border  or  canopy  of  classical 
design — almost  J  acobean  in  character — but  very  rudely  executed,  S.  John  being 
by  far  the  best.  The  great  inferiority  of  German  art  to  that  of  Ireland  and 
England  at  this  time  is  still  more  apparent  in  the  writing  of  this  book. 

S.    DUNSTAN  AT  THE   FEET  OF  CHRIST IJ>5 

A  drawing  now  in  the  Bodleian  Library.  The  inscription  at  the  top,  in 
characters  of  the  twelfth  century,  states  that  "the  drawing  and  writing  on  this 
page  are  by  S.  Dunstan's  own  hand. " 

COIN  OF  EADGAR 107 

NOAH'S  ARK 108 

From  a  MS.  of  Caedmon  (Junius  n,  Bodleian  Library),  written  c.  A.D.  loco. 
The  Ark  is  represented  in  the  form  of  a  Danish  ship. 

EADGAR  OFFERING  UP  HIS  CHARTER  FOR  NEW  MINSTER 109 

From  MS.  Cotton  Vespasian  A.  viii.  (British  Museum),  a  grant  of  privileges 
and  benefits  made  by  Eadgar  in  966  to  the  New  Minster  founded  by  Alfred  at 
Winchester.  This  illumination  forms  the  frontispiece  to  the  Charter,  and 
represents  the  King,  with  the  Virgin  on  one  side  and  S.  Peter  on  the  other, 
offering  up  his  gift  to  our  Lord  in  glory. 

KING  AND  COURT in 

This  scene  from  MS.  Bodl.  Junius  n,  represents  Enos,  son  of  Seth,  and  his 
family,  under  the  guise  of  an  English  king  of  the  tenth  century,  seated  on  his 
throne,  sword  in  hand,  with  his  thegns  standing  before  him. 

SILVER  PENDANT  (Mmtelius,  "  Civilization  of  Sweden") 114 

This  little  figure  of  a  woman  holding  a  drinking-horn  illustrates  the  old 
northern  custom,  so  often  mentioned  in  the  Wiking  Sagas,  of  women  carrying 
the  horn  round  to  the  warriors  seated  at  the  feast. 

THE   RAMSUNDSBERG,    WEST   SODERMANLAND   (Montelius,    "Civilization  of 

Sweden ") 114 

A  carving  on  the  rock,  consisting  of  scenes  from  the  Saga  of  Sigurd  Fanis- 
bane,  or  the  Dragon-slayer.  Sigurd  is  seen  plunging  his  sword  into  the  dragon 
Fani,  whose  long  snake-like  body,  marked  with  runes,  forms  a  sort  of  frame 
round  a  series  of  designs,  representing  the  dwarf  Regin  with  his  forge,  tongs, 
hammer,  and  bellows,  Sigurd's  horse  Grane  laden  with  the  dragon's  spoils,  a 
tree  on  which  are  perched  the  two  hawks  who  warned  Sigurd  of  Regin's 
treachery,  and  the  headless  body  of  Regin,  whom  Sigurd  slew. 

OAK  SHIP  FROM  TUNE,  SOUTH  NORWAY  (Montelius,  "  Civilization  of  Sweden")      115 

A  Wiking  ship,  found  in  1867  in  a  barrow  at  Tune,  near  Frederikstad.  It 
was  built  nearly  in  the  same  fashion  as  that  found  in  the  Nydam  bog  (see  p.  1 1), 
but  had  a  mast.  In  this  ship  was  found  buried  a  man  with  his  weapons  and 
two  horses. 

SHIP  FROM  GOKSTAD  (Monteliui,  "Civilization  of  Sw eden'") 115 

Another  ship  of  the  same  period,  found  in  1880,  in  a  barrow  at  Gokstad, 
South  Norway.  It  was  seventy-eight  feet  long,  pointed  at  both  ends,  had  a 
mast  and  sixteen  pairs  of  oars,  and  was  decorated  along  the  gunwale  with  a  row 
of  shields,  of  which  there  had  been  thirty-two  on  each  side.  The  owner  had 
been  buried  in  a  grave-chamber  just  behind  the  mast,  with  his  weapons,  twelve 
horses,  six  dogs,  and  a  peacock.  These  two  ships  are  now  in  the  museum  at 
Christ  iania. 

NOAH'S  ARK 116 

From  the  MS.  of  Caedmon,  Bodl.  Junius  n.  Here,  as  in  the  illustration 
from  the  same  MS.  given  in  p.  108,  the  Ark  is  represented  as  a  Danish  ship 
similar  to  those  figured  in  p.  115,  and  steered,  like  them,  by  a  rudder  fastened 
near  the  stern  on  the  side  thence  still  called  the  starboard. 

FIGURE  OF  CHRIST 119 

An  example  of  artistic  treatment  of  figure  and  drapery,  from  a  MS.  of  JElfric's 
Paraphrase  (MS.  Cotton  Claudius  B.  iv.,  British  Museum) ;  English  work  of 
the  eleventh  centurv. 


NOTES   ON   THE   ILLUSTRATIONS  ix 


PACK 

BOOK-SHRINE  OR  CUMDACH  OF  MOLAISE  (Stokes,   "Early  Christian  Art  in 

Ireland") 120 

While  in  other  lands  the  sacred  books  of  the  churches  were  often  covered 
with  splendid  jewelled  bindings,  in  Ireland  the  practice  was  to  treat  them  as 
relics  and  enclose  them  in  boxes  or  shrines.  Such  a  box  was  called  cumdach. 
The  oldest  now  extant  is  that  of  the  Gospel-book  of  Molaise  of  Devenish. 
Its  date  is  shown  by  an  inscription  round  the  bottom  of  the  box  :  "  Pray  for 
Cenn[failad],  for  the  successor  of  Molaise,  for  whom  this  case  [was  made], 
and  for  Gillabaithin,  the  artist  who  made  the  .  .  .  .  "  Cennfailad  was  abbot 
of  Devenish  1001-1025.  The  case,  formed  of  plates  of  bronze,  is  adorned 
with  plates  of  silver  with  gilt  patterns,  riveted  to  the  bronze  foundation.  On 
the  face  of  the  box  are  the  symbols  of  the  four  Evangelists,  with  their  names. 

WOODEN  CHURCH  AT  GREENSTEAD,  ESSEX  (  Vetusta  Monumentd) 121 

In  A.U.  1010  the  body  of  S.  Edmund  was  removed  from  Bury  to  London  for 
fear  of  the  Danes.  Three  years  later  it  was  brought  back,  and  on  its  way 
rested  at  Greenstead,  near  Ongar,  in  Essex,  where  a  wooden  chapel  was  built 
in  its  honour.  The  remains  of  this  chapel  still  exist ;  in  1748,  the  date  of  the 
engraving  from  which  this  illustration  is  copied,  the  building  was  entire, 
though  much  decayed  It  formed  the  nave  of  the  church,  a  small  chancel 
having  been  added.  The  original  fabric  was  29  feet  9  inches  long,  14  feet  wide, 
and  5  feet  6  inches  high  at  the  sides,  which  supported  the  primitive  roof.  The 
walls  were  composed  of  the  trunks  of  large  oak  trees,  split  and  roughly 
hewed  on  both  sides,  set  upright  close  to  each  other,  let  into  a  low  sill  of 
brickwork  at  the  base,  and  fastened  by  wooden  pins  into  a  frame  of  rough 
timber  at  the  top.  The  window  in  the  roof  was  no  part  of  the  original 
structure,  which  had  no  inlet  for  the  light,  having  been  designed  only  as  a 
temporary  resting-place  for  the  body  of  the  saint. 

COIN  OF  CNUT 122 

CNUT  AND  EMMA  MAKING  A  DONATION  TO  NEW  MINSTER 123 

This  illustration,  similar  in  character  and  subject  to  that  on  p.  109,  occurs  in 
the  Stowe  MS.  Ecclesiastica  iii.  32,  a  Register  of  New  Minster  written  in  the 
time  of  Cnut.  "  Cnut  Rex"  and  "  yElfgyfu  Regina"  (Emma,  ^ithelred's 
widow  and  Cnut's  wife)  are  shown  confirming  their  donation,  according  to 
custom,  on  the  altar  of  the  Minster. 

CARTS,  ELEVENTH  CENTURY 124 

Drawn  by  oxen,  driven  by  means  of  a  goad  ;  from  MS.  Cotton  Claudius 
B.  iv. 

AGRICULTURE 125 

From  the  same  MS.  This  drawing  shows  some  of  the  implements  used  in 
the  fields — the  rake,  the  reaping-hook,  the  pitchfork — and  the  peasants  carry- 
ing their  burthens  home  when  the  day's  work  is  done. 

AGRICULTURE 125 

From  MS.  Harleian  603  (British  Museum)  ;  a  Psalter,  English  work  of  the 
eleventh  century,  but  with  drawings  freely  imitated  from  those  in  the  Utrecht 
Psalter,  a  work  of  the  eighth  or  ninth  century  (whether  English  or  not  is  dis- 
puted), formerly  in  the  Cottonian  Library  and  now  in  that  of  the  University 
of  Utrecht. 

PLOUGHING 126 

From  MS.  Harleian  603.  Shows  the  ancient  mode  of  ploughing  with  a 
pair  of  oxen  driven  by  a  goad. 

MAKING  WATTLED  ENCLOSURE 126 

From  the  same  MS.  A  good  illustration  of  the  making  of  an  Old  English 
"  burh." 

SAILING  VESSELS  AND  BOATS 127 

From  the  same  MS.  The  boats  are  steered,  like  the  northmen's  ships,  by  a 
rudder  or  fixed  oar  on  starboard. 

KING  AND  MINISTER  DOING  JUSTICE  AT  A  GATE 129 

An  illustration,  from  MS.  Cotton  Claudius  B.  iv.,  of  the  practice  common 
to  all  early  civilizations,  of  rulers  "sitting  in  the  gate"  of  city  or  palace,  to 
receive  suitors  and  administer  justice. 


NOTES   ON   THE   ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

BEDS,  ELEVENTH  CENTURY 132 

From  the  same  MS. 
CHARIOT 132 

From  the  same. 
ABBEY  CHURCH  OK  S.  STEPHEN  AT  CAEN 134 

Built  by  William  the  Conqueror,  who  was  buried  in  it.  The  choir  has  been 
rebuilt  ;  the  nave,  here  represented,  stands  exactly  as  he  left  it. 

CASTLE  OF  ARQUES 139 

"  A  fortress  which  is  undoubtedly  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  important  in 
the  history  of  Norman  military  architecture. "  "  One  of  the  few  examples  stiil 
remaining  of  the  castles  which  were  raised  by  the  turbulent  Norman  baronage 
in  the  stormy  days  of  William's  minority"  (Freeman,  Norman  Conquest, 
iii.  122).  Jt  was  built,  in  defiance  of  the  boy-duke,  by  his  uncle  William  of 
Arques. 

ABBEY  CHURCH  OF  JUMIEGES 143 

Begun  in  1040  by  Abbot  Robert,  who  became  Bishop  of  London  1044,  was 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  1051-1052,  and  died  1058.  The  church  was 
finished  thsn,  but  not  consecrated  till  1067  by  Archbishop  Maurilius  of 
Rouen.  The  choir  was  rebuilt  in  the  next  century. 

SCENES  FROM  THE  BAYEUX  TAPESTRY 145,  147 

This  roll  of  tapestry,  formerly  in  the  Cathedral  and  now  in  the  Public 
Library  at  Bayeux,  was  probably  made  in  England  for  Bishop  Odo,  the 
Conqueror's  brother.  Mr.  Freeman  regards  it  as  "holding  the  first  place 
among  the  authorities  on  the  Norman  side  "  for  the  events  depicted  in  it — 
from  Harold's  journey  to  Normandy  to  the  flight  of  the  English  after  his  fall 
at  Senlac. 

SEAL  OF  WILLIAM  THE  CONQUEROR 151 

The  reverse  of  his  second  great  seal ;  reproduced  as  giving  the  best  authentic 
portrait  of  our  first  Norman  King. 

ARCHER,  ELEVENTH  CENTURY  (MS.  Cott.  Claud.  B.  t'v.) 152 

THE  TWELVE  MONTHS    ...       155,  157,  159 

From  a  calendar  prefixed  to  a  Hymnarium,  English  work  of  the  eleventh 
century  (MS.  Cotton  Julius  A.  vi.).  The  scenes  represent  the  occupations  of 
men  in  each  month  of  the  year. 

CHAPEL  OF  S.  JOHN  THE  EVANGELIST  IN  THE  WHITE  TOWER,  LONDON.   .   .      160 
Built  by  William  the  Conqueror. 

TOWER  OF  EARL'S  BARTON  CHURCH 162 

The  primitive  Romanesque  architecture  of  England  before  the  coming  of 
the  Normans  is  now  represented  only  by  the  little  church  at  Bradford  (see 
p.  68)  and  by  a  few  church  towers,  of  which  Earl's  Barton,  in  Northampton- 
shire, is  the  finest.  They  are  distinguished  by  their  tall,  square  form,  by  the 
absence  of  buttresses,  by  their  decoration  of  pilaster-strips,  and  especially  by 
their  windows,  which  usually  consist  of  two  or  more  round-headed  lights 
grouped  together  and  divided  by  a  mid-wall  shaft  or  baluster.  The  parapet 
at  Earl's  Barton  was  added  later. 

TOWER  OF  TASEBURGH  CHURCH,  NORFOLK -  .    .      162 

This  seems  to  be  the  earliest  of  the  round  towers,  built  of  rough  flint,  which 
are  peculiar  to  the  ecclesiastical  architecture  of  East  Anglia.  It  probably  dates 
from  the  twelfth  century  ;  the  upper  part  was  rebuilt  in  1385. 

A  BANQUET To  face  p.      162 

From  MS.  Cotton  Tiberius  C.  vi.  (British  Museum),  a  Psalter,  English 
work  of  the  eleventh  century. 

BUILDING,  ELEVENTH  CENTURY  (MS.  Cott.  Claud.  B.  »z>.) 164 

Illustrates  the  insertion  of  a  timber  gable  into  stone-work. 

DIGGING,  ELEVENTH  CENTURY  (MS.  Cott.  Claud.  B.  iv.) 165 

SEAL  OF  ST.  ANSELM  (Ducarel,  " Anglo-Norman  Antiquities"} 167 

GREAT  SEAL  OF  HENRY  1 169 

Reverse  of  Henry's  fourth  seal.  The  legend,  "  Henricus  Dei  gratia  dux 
Normannorum,"  shows  that  it  dates  from  after  1106. 


NOTES   ON   THE   ILLUSTRATIONS  xi 


PACE 

MILKING  AND  CHURN,  A.D.  1130 — 1174. 170 

From  MS.  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  R.  17,  i,  a  Psalter,  written  and 
illustrated  between  1130  and  1174  by  Eadwine,  a  monk  of  Christ  Church, 
Canterbury,  who  has  placed  his  own  portrait  at  the  end  of  his  work.  It 
contains  three  different  Latin  versions  of  the  Psalms,  Gallican,  Roman,  and 
Hebraic,  in  parallel  columns  ;  the  Gallican  version  has  an  interlinear  gloss  in 
Latin,  the  Roman  has  one  in  old  English,  and  the  Hebraic  one  in  Norman 
French.  Philologically  it  is  of  great  value  ;  and  the  writing  is  scarcely  less 
interesting,  as  it  shows  a  transition  from  the  square  forms  of  the  earlier  MSS. 
to  the  more  ornate  style  of  the  mdtiern  Gothic  hand.  The  small  drawings  in 
this  MS.  are  after  the  type  of  the  Utrecht  Psalter  and  MS.  Harleian  603  (see 
above,  p.  ix). 

WEAVING,  A.D.   1130 — 1 17 '4  (Eadwine 's  Psalter} 171 

LOOM   AND   DISTAFF  FROM  THE  F^ROE  ISLES   (Afontelius,  "  Civilization  of 

Sweden") 172 

The  distaff  and  loom  still  used  by  the  women  of  theFreroe  Isles  preserve  the 
primitive  forms  which  their  ancestors  used  a  thousand  years  ago.  This  loom 
may  be  also  compared  with  that  in  common  use  in  England  at  the  time  when 
the  first  gilds  of  weavers  were  being  formed,  as  represented  on  p.  171. 

BUILDING,  ELEVENTH  CENTURY  (MS.  Harl.  603) 173 

An  English  picture  of  fortification  after  the  Roman  manner. 

GROUP  ROITND  A  TABLE,  ELEVENTH  CENTURY  (MS.  Harl.  603) 173 

MAP  OK  EARLY  LONDON 174 

NORMAN  TOWER,  S.  EDMUNDSBURY 176 

From  a  photograph.  This  tower,  probably  built  by  Abbot  Baldwin  (1067 — 
1097  J,  formed  the  entrance  into  the  churchyard  opposite  the  west  end  of  the 
Abbey  Church,  and  may  have  served  as  a  campanile. 

THE  ABBOT'S  BRIDGE,  S.  EDMUNDSBURY 177 

Built  early  in  the  thirteenth  century. 

MEN  IN  PRISON  AND  IN  STOCKS,  A.D.  1130 — 1174  (End-Minis  Psalter)    .    .          178 

SCENES  FROM  LIFE  OK  S.  GUTHLAC  .    . 179 

From  MS.  Harleian  Roll  Y.  vi.  (British  Museum),  a  picture-life  (Anglo- 
Norman  work,  twelfth  century)  of  the  Mercian  saint  Guthlac,  who  built  his 
cell  at  Crowland  about  A.D.  700  ;  see  p.  60,  and  for  .^thelbald's  visit  p.  69. 

HOSPITAL  OF  S.  GILES-IN-THE-FIELDS,  LONDON 180 

Drawn  by  Matthew  Paris  in  his  Chronicle,  MS.  Corpus  Christi  College, 
Cambridge,  xxvi.  This  hospital  for  lepers  was  founded  by  Matilda,  wife  of 
Henry  I. 

SEAL  OF  S-.  BARTHOLOMEW'S  PRIORY,  .SMITHFIELD 180 

From  the  impression  attached  to  the  deed  of  surrender  of  the  Priory  to  Henry 
VIII.,  Aug.  Deeds  of  Surrender  of  Monasteries,  136  (Public  Record  Office). 

CHURCH  OF  THE  HOLY  SEPULCHRE,  CAMBRIDGE 181 

Built  by  a  Brotherhood  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  to  whom  the  Abbot  and 
Convent  of  Ramsey  gave  for  that  purpose,  between  1114  and  1130,  a  burial- 
ground  which  they  possessed  at  Cambridge.  This  Brotherhood  was  probably 
a  band  of  pilgrims  who  had  gone  to  the  Holy  Land  together;  for  the  church 
which  they  built  is  clearly  imitated  from  that  which  covers  the  traditional  site 
of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  at  Jerusalem. 

ORGAN,  A.D.   1130 — 1174  (Eadu >itiSs  I'salter) 182 

A  somewhat  unusual  representation  of  an  organ  with  two  players  and  two 
bellows. 

THE  EXCHEQUER,  A.D.   1130—1174  (Eadwine's  Psalter}         •     .    .      184 

Illustrates  the  receiving  and  weighing  of  coin  at  the  Exchequer,  very  much 
after  the  manner  in  which  it  was  carried  out  under  Henry  I.  and  Bishop  J<oger 
of  Salisbury,  and  which  is  described  in  the  Dialogus  de  Scaccario,  written 
towards  the  end  of  the  century. 


xii  NOTES   ON   THE   ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

ARCHES  OF  CLOISTER  OF  S.  AUBIN'S  ABBEY,  ANGERS 187 

The  Abbey  of  S.  Aubin,  founded  in  Merovingian  times,  seems  to  have  been 
rebuilt  by  Geoffrey  Greygown  and  Fulk  the  Black.  "Only  one  huge  tower 
remains,  but  fragments  of  it  are  still  to  be  seen  embedded  in  the  buildings  of 
the  Prefecture — above  all  a  Romanesque  arcade,  fretted  with  tangled  imagery 
and  apocalyptic  figures  of  the  richest  work  of  the  eleventh  century  "  ("Stray 
Studies,"  p.  369).  This  arcade,  here  figured,  seems  to  have  been  part  of  the 
cloister. 

DURTAL,  ANJOU 189 

Most  of  Fulk  Nerra's  castles  were  rebuilt  in  the  fifteenth  century,  Durtal 
among  them,  but  some  of  his  work  still  remains  in  the  keep.  The  little  town 
has  kept  a  remarkably  old-world  aspect,  and  town  and  castle  together  form  one 
of  the  most  picturesque  illustrations  of  the  peculiar  character  stamped  on  the 
country  by  its  early  counts,  especially  by  Fulk  the  Black. 

EFFIGY  OF  GEOFFREY  PLANTAGENET,  COUNT  OF  ANJOU 191 

Geoffrey  was  buried  in  Le  Mans  Cathedral.  The  richly  enamelled  tablet 
that  covered  his  tomb  is  now  in  the  local  museum. 

THE  "STANDARD,"  A.D.  1138 193 

From  MS.  Arundel  150  (British  Museum),  an  early  thirteenth  century  copy 
of  part  of  the  Chronicle  of  Roger  of  Howden. 

GREAT  SEAL  OF  THE  EMPRESS  MATILDA 194 

This  is  the  only  seal  which  Matilda  is  known  to  have  used  ;  its  legend, 
"  Mathildis  Romanorum  Regina,"  shows  that  it  was  made  for  her  in  Germany 
before  her  first  husband's  crowning  at  Rome,  A. u.  i  in. 

SEAL    OF    BISHOP    HENRY   OF    WINCHESTER   (Journal  of  the  Archaological 

Association)        196 

MAP  OF  THE  DOMINIONS  OF  THE  ANGEVINS      To  face  p.  ir;6 

CANTERBURY  CATHEDRAL  MONASTERY,  A.D.  1130 — 1174  (Eadwine's  Psalter)  .       200 

This  plan  or  bird's-eye  view,  which  covers  two  pages  of  a  large  folio  volume, 
represents  church  and  monastery  as  they  were  from  1130,  when  the  church, 
rebuilt  by  Lanfranc  and  his  successors,  was  consecrated  by  William  of  Corbeil, 
till  1174,  when  the  choir  was  burnt  down. 

SEAL  OF  S.  THOMAS  OF  CANTERBURY  (Journal  of  Archaeological  Association)     .      201 

MITRE  OF  S.  THOMAS 201 

Of  white  silk,  embroidered  with  gold  braid  ;  one  of  a  set  of  vestments  now 
in  the  Cathedral  at  Sens,  and  traditionally  said  to  have  belonged  to  the 
martyr. 

S.  THOMAS  AND  HERBERT  OF  BOSHAM 202 

Initial  at  the  beginning  of  a  thirteenth  century  MS.  (Trinity  College, 
Cambridge,  B.  5.  4)  of  Herbert's  Gloss  on  the  Psalter.  Herbert  was  the 
favourite  secretary  of  St.  Thomas,  and  strongly  encouraged  his  opposition 
to  the  King. 

SANCTUARY  KNOCKER,  DURHAM     203 

FRITHSTOOL,  HKXHAM  PRIORY  (Jusserand,  "  Wayfaring  Life") 203 

The  regulations  as  to  sanctuary  varied  in  different  places.  At  Durham  the 
fugitive  had  to  knock  at  the  door  on  the  north  side  of  the  nave  of  the  Cathedral 
with  the  bronze  knocker  (twelfth  century  work)  which  hangs  there  still.  As 
soon  as  he  was  admitted,  the  bell  of  the  Galilee  was  tolled,  to  give  notice  that 
some  one  had  taken  sanctuary  ;  a  black  robe  with  a  yellow  cross  on  the  left 
shoulder  was  given  him,  and  he  was  lodged  "on  a  grate  on  the  south  side, 
near  the  door  and  near  the  altar" — i.e.  apparently  the  altar  of  the  Galilee. 
At  Hexham  the  limits  of  the  sanctuary  were  marked  by  four  crosses,  but  the 
fugitive  was  not  absolutely  safe  from  pursuit  till  he  reached  the  frithstool  or 
peace  chair.  The  Hexham  frithstool  dates  from  the  twelfth  century.  Only 
one  other,  in  Beverley  Minster,  is  now  left  in  England. 


NOTES   ON  THE   ILLUSTRATIONS  xiii 


S.   THOMAS  EXCOMMUNICATING    HIS  ENEMIES,   AND   ARGUING   WITH 
HENRY  AND  LEWIS 

PARTING  OF  S.  THOMAS  AND  THE  Two  KINGS •    .   .   .   .    )   205,  206 

CROWNING  OF  THK  YOUNG  KING  ;  HIS  CORONATION-BANQUET  .   .   . 

S.  THOMAS  EMBARKING  FOR  ENGLAND 

Four  out  of  eight  pictures  forming  the  earliest  series  of  illustrations  of  the 
history  of  S.  Thomas,  and  also  one  of  the  best  exampks  of  the  developement  of 
the  French  style  of  illumination  in  English  hands.  They  occur  in  a  French 
life  of  the  saint,  written  in  England  1230 — 1260,  and  are  far  superior  in  draw- 
ing to  contemporary  illuminations  of  French  workmanship.  They  are  here 
reproduced  from  the  facsimiles  in  M.  Paul  Meyer's  edition  of  the  "Vie  de  S. 
Thomas"  (Societe  des  anciens  textes  fran9ais),  the  MS.  being  in  a  private 
collection  at  Courtrai.  The  second  half  of  the  third  picture  represents  an 
incident  at  the  coronation-banquet  of  the  young  King,  when  his  father  chose 
to  serve  him  at  table,  and  the  youth  remarked  that  it  was  but  just  for  the  son 
of  an  earl  to  serve  the  son  of  a  king. 

MARTYRDOM  OF  S.  THOMAS 207 

Drawn  by  Matthew  Paris  in  the  margin  of  his  Greater  Chronicle,  MS. 
Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge,  xxvi. 

"CAPUT  THOM>E  " — SIGN  OF  A  CANTERBURY  PILGRIM  ( Wright,  "Archaological 

Album ").     . 208 

Gerald  of  Wales  tells  how  he  and  his  fellow-pilgrims  returned  from  Canter- 
bury "with  the  signs  of  S.  Thomas  hung  round  their  necks."  Chaucer's 
pilgrims  "set  their  signys  upon  theyr  hedes,  and  som  oppon  theyr  capp." 
These  signs,  or  brooches,  were  common  at  places  of  pilgrimage,  and  con- 
sisted of  thin  sheets  of  lead  having  figures  or  devices  stamped  on  them,  and 
mostly  showing  traces  of  having  had  a  pin  at  the  back.  The  one  here  figured 
was  found  in  the  Thames  at  London. 

GREAT  SEAL  OF  THE  YOUNG  KING  HENRY,  SON  OF  HENRY  II 208 

Only  one  impression  of  this  seal  is  known  ;  it  is  attached  to  a  charter  in 
Canterbury  Cathedral  Library. 

TOWER  OF  HADISCOE  THORPE  CHURCH,  NORFOLK 210 

A  round  tower  of  the  later  twelfth  century.  It  is  built  of  flint,  squared  and 
arranged  in  a  pattern  at  the  top.  The  transition  from  Romanesque  to  Gothic 
is  shown  in  some  of  the  windows,  with  pointed  arches  and  square  abaci. 

EFFIGY  OF  HENRY  II.  (Stothard,  "Monumental Effigies") 212 

From  his  tomb  at  Fontevraud. 

GREAT  SEAL  OF  RICHARD  I.    .   .    • 214 

Obverse  of  his  first  seal,  1189-1198. 

SEAL  OF  LES  ANDELYS • 215 

This  seal,  in  the  collection  of  the  late  Rev.  S.  S.  Lewis,  dates  from  the  thir- 
teenth or  early  fourteenth  century.  Its  device,  a  crown  royal  over  France 
royal,  and  France  and  England  quarterly,  with  a  conventional  representation 
of  Chateau-Gaillard  below,  alludes  to  the  French  King's  conquest  of  the  lord- 
ship of  Andelys,  of  which  Chateau-Gaillard  was  the  head. 

CHATEAU-GAILLARD  FROM  THE  EAST    ... .      217 

After  J.  M.  W.  Turner. 

CHATEAU-GAILLARD  FROM  THE  SOUTH 220 

After  J.  M.  W.Turner. 

ANCIENT  SWORD  OF  STATE,  ISLE  OF  MAN  (Publications  of  Manx  Satiety)   .    .      321 

Formerly  borne  before  the  kings  or  lords  of  Man,  and  still  borne  before  the 
governor  at  the  promulgation  of  laws  in  the  Tynwald.  The  Isle  of  Man  is 
the  only  place  where  the  ancient  Scandinavian  custom  of  proclaiming  the 
laws  on  a  hill,  in  the  open  air,  has  been  preserved ;  it  has  been  practised 
there  since  the  time  of  the  Scandinavian  Kings.  The  sword  is  of  late  twelfth 
or  early  thirteenth  century  work,  exactly  like  that  represented  on  King 
John's  tomb  at  Worcester.  It  is  3  ft.  6  in.  long,  and  was  once  4  or  5  in. 
longer,  but  its  point  is  broken.  Near  the  rest  on  each  side  of  the  hilt  are  the 
arms  of  Man,  with  a  curious  triangle  in  the  centre. 


XIV 


NAMING  OF  S.  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST     .    .   .   .   .   .".   .   .   .   J   .   .   .  • 

Copied,  by  permission  of  the  Kent  Archaeological  Society,  from  a  reproduc- 
tion in  "  Archaeolotjia  Cantiana"  of  an  early  twelfth  century  painting  in 
tempera,  on  the  wall  of  the  crypt  under  the  chapel  of  S.  Anselm  in  Canterbury 
Cathedral. 

MONK  ILLUMIN  VTING 223 

From  MS.  Bodleian  602,  a  Bestianunij  written  about  A.D.  1200.  The 
artist  is  scraping  the  surface  of  the  vellum  with  his  left  hand,  ready  to  draw  on 
it  with  the  right. 

FAUNA  OF  IRELAND  ACCORDING  TO  GERALD  OF  WALES 225 

The  birds,  beasts  and  fishes  here  grouped  together  are  marginal  illustrations 
in  a  contemporary :  MS.  of  Gerald's  Topography  of  Ireland  (MS.  Roy.  13 
B.  v:ii,,  British  Museum).  They  are  a  fox,  two  rats,  a  wolf,  barnacle-geese, 
a  beaver*  a  martin,  a  mole,  a  stag,  a  black  stork,  a  marvellous  fish  found  at  ; 
Carlingford,  having  three  golden  teeth,  a  crane,  a  badger,  a  weasel,  a  hind 
or  doe,  two  kingfishers  perched  on  a  shamrock  plant,  a  spider,  a  snake, 
and  a  mouse.  Three  of  these  animals,  the  beaver,  the  mole,  and  the  snake, 
Gerald  specially  notes  as  not  existing  in  Ireland. 

HEDGEHOGS  AND  MUSHROOM .     226 

From  MS.  Bodleian  602. 

SHOOTING  BIRDS  IN  TREE •  .   .   .      227 

From  MS.  Ashmolean  1511  (Bodleian  Library),  a  Bestiarium,  c.  A.D.  1200. 

GLUTTONY 228 

This  little  picture  of  a  priest  greedily  eating  cakes  or  tarts  out  of  a  dish  held 
up  to  him  by  a  demon  is  from  a  book  of  Saints'  Lives  (MS.  Arundel  91, 
British  Museum),  English  work,  of  about  the  same* date  as  the  "Goliath" 
writings. 

MAP  OF  LONDON  IN  THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY     .-••••-   ••  •      23* 

From  the  Rev.  W.  J.  Loftie's  ' '  History  of  London. " 

KNIGHT  AND  SLINGER 235 

From  MS.  Roy.  I  D.  x.  (British  Museum)  ;  a  Psalter,  English  work,  early 
thirteenth  century. 

THE  BATTLE  OF  BOUVINES     . .   . 236 

From  MS.  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge,  xvi.,  the  second  volume  of 
the  Chronica  Afajora,  written  and  illustrated  by  the  hand  of  Matthew  Paris. 
The  drawing  represents  the  turning-point  in  the  battle.  In  a  charge  led  by 
one  of  John's  captains,  Hugh  de  Boves,  the  King  of  France  was  unhorsed  and 
nearly  slain.  One  of  his  soldiers  saved  him  at  the  cost  of  his  own  life,  and  a 
rally  of  the  French  put  Hugh  and  his  followers  to  flight. 

SEAL  OF  STEPHEN  LANGTON 237 

From  an  impression  attached  to  Harleian  Charter  75  A.  14,  British 
Museum. 

SEAL  OF  ROBERT  FITZWALTER 239 

From  the  original  seal,  in  the  British  Museum. 

THE  GREAT  CHARTER    . 241 

The  original  Charter  sealed  by  John  at  Runnymede  still  exists  in  the 
British  Museum,  but  it  has  been  so  much  injured  by  fire  and  water  as  to  be 
quite  illegible.  The  copy  (also  in  the  British  Museum)  of  which  a  facsimile 
(reduced  to  rather  more  than  a  third  of  the  original  size)  is  given  here  is  one 
of  those  made  at  the  time  for  distribution  throughout  the  country. 

EFFIGY  OF  KING  JOHN,  ON  HIS  TOMB  (Stothard,  "  Monumental  Effigies")  .    .      243 

John's  tomb  now  stands  in  the  middle  of  the  choir  of  Worcester  Cathedral. 
It  was  originally  in  the  Lady  Chapel  at  the  east  end,  between  the  graves  of 
S.  Oswald  and  S.  Wulfstan,  Bishops  of  Worcester,  who  are  therefore  repre- 
sented on  either  side  of  the  King. 

EFFIGY  OF  WILLIAM  MARSHAL,  ON  HIS  TOMB 245 

In  the  Temple  Church,  London.  The  figure  is  sculptured  in  Sussex 
marble;  it  is  here  copied  from  Richardson's  "Monumental  Effigies  in  the 
Temple  Church." 


NOTES   ON   THE   ILLUSTRATIONS  xv 


PAGE 

MAP  OF  EARLY  OXFORD 248 

SOUTH  VIEW  OF  BOCARDO,  AND  TOWER  OF  S.  MICHAEL'S  CHURCH,  OXFORD 

(Skelton,  "  Oxonia  Antiqua  Restaurata  ") 249 

The  north  gate  of  Oxford,  made  strong  for  purposes  of  defence,  passed 
after  the  Barons'  War  into  the  hands  of  the  mayor  and  bailiffs  ;  under 
Henry  III.  it  was  already  used  as  a  prison  for  town  malefactors,  and  under 
Edward  II.,  if  not  earlier,  "for  scollers  for  little  faults."  In  1555  it  was 
the  prison  of  Latimer  and  Ridley,  and  in  1556  of  Cranmer.  Its  common 
name,  Bocardo  (of  unknown  meaning),  dates  from  the  time  of  Henry  IIL 
It  was  taken  down  in  1771.  The  tower  of  S.  Michael's  Church,  seen  behind 
it,  was  built  temp.  Henry  I. 

OLD  CHURCH  OF  ST.  MARTIN,  OXFORD  (Skelton,  "  Oxonia  Antigua  Restaurata")      249 

From  Oxford's  earliest  days  ' '  the  church  of  S.  Martin  in  the  very  heart 
of  it,  at  the  Quatrevoix  or  Carfax  where  its  four  roads  meet,  was  the  centre 
of  the  city's  life.  The  Town-mote  was  held  in  its  churchyard"  ("Stray 
Studies,"  p.  356).  The  original  church  was,  as  Anthony  Wood  says,  "of  a 
most  ancient  erection  and  beyond  all  record."  The  view  here  reproduced 
shows  that  its  exterior  must  have  been  greatly  altered,  if  not  rebuilt,  about 
the  time  of  Edward  III.  Wood  says  that  "the  tower,  which  of  old  time 
was  high,  and  of  a  more  statly  bulke,  as  also  some  part  of  their  church,  was 
by  the  command  of  King  Edward  III.,  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  his  raign 
(1340),  taken  downe  lower,  as  now  it  is;  because  upon  the  complaint  of 
schollers  the  townsmen  would  in  times  of  combat  with  them  retire  up  there 
as  their  castle  and  from  thence  gall  and  annoi  them  with  arrows  and  stones, 
&c."  This  tower  is  the  only  part  of  the  old  church  now  remaining,  the 
rest  having  been  demolished  and  rebuilt  in  1820. 

WATCH-TOWER   ON    HYTHE    BRIDGE,   OXFORD,   CALLED   "FRIAR    BACON'S 

STUDY"  (Skeltun,  "  Uxonia  Antiqua  Reslaurala") 250 

Built  in  twelfth  or  early  thirteenth  century  ;  taken  down  1779. 

HYTHE  BRIDGE  AND  CASTLE  TOWER,  OXFORD  (.Skelton,  "  Oxonia  Anliqua 

Restaurata ")       25 1 

Hythe  Bridge  (so  called  from  the  hythe  or  landing-place)  gave  entrance 
to  Oxford  on  the  west  It  seems  to  have  been  first  built  in  1085  ;  the 
present  bridge  dates  from  about  1383.  The  tower  of  the  castle,  seen  in 
the  distance,  was  built  in  1091. 

HOME  FOR  CONVERTED  JEWS,  OXFORD  (Skelton,  "  Oxonia  Antiqua  Restaurata  ")      25 1 

In  1228  a  house  which  lay  on  the  western  edge  of  the  Lesser  Jewry,  in 
Fish  Street  a  little  below  Carfax,  was  owned  by  a  Jew  named  David. 
From  him  it  passed  to  Henry  III.,  who  founded  there,  in  1235,  a  home 
for  converted  Jews.  In  the  sixteenth  century  the  Guildhall  was  built  next 
it,  and  in  1750  both  were  taken  down  for  the  erection  of  a  new  Town  Hall. 

RUINS  OF  OSNEY  ABBEY 252 

Osney  was  an  Augustinian  house,  founded  1129,  rebuilt  1247.  Not  a 
stone  of  it  remains ;  the  view  here  given  is  from  an  engraving  by  Hollar, 
in  the  seventeenth  century. 

S.  FRIDESWIDE'S  PRIORY  CHURCH,  OXFORD 253 

This  view  is  reproduced  from  Ingram's  "Memorials  of  Oxford,"  to  show 
as  much  as  possible  of  the  church  in  its  original  state,  temp.  Henry  I., 
and  as  little  as  possible  of  the  changes  which  it  has  since  undergone.  It  was 
first  altered  by  Wolsey  to  form  the  chapel  of  Cardinal  College,  founded  on 
the  site  of  the  old  Austin  priory.  Henry  VIII.  changed  the  name  of  the 
college  to  Christchurch,  and  in  1545  made  its  chapel  the  cathedral  church  of 
the  new  diocese  of  Oxford. 

SEAL  OF  OXFORD  UNIVERSITY,  c.  1300  (Ingram,  "Memorial*  of  Oxford'"')  .    .      254 
SEAL  OF  OXFORD  CITY  (Ingram,  "Memorials  of  Oxford") 255 

HOSPITAL  AT  OXFORD,  BUILT  BY  HENRY  III 256 

A  drawing  by  Matthew  Paris,  in  his  autograph  "  Historia  Anglorum," 
MS.  Roy.  14  C.  vii.  (British  Museum).  A  hospital  for  sick  persons  and 
pilgrims  was  founded  in  John's  reign  outside  the  east  gate  of  Oxford,  and 


NOTES   ON   THE   ILLUSTRATIONS 


T-AC.E 

dedicated  to  S.  John  the  Baptist.  Henry  III.  rebuilt  it  in  1233.  In  1456 
its  site  was  granted  by  Henry  VI.  to  Waynflete,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  for 
the  erection  of  Magdalene  College. 

AUSTIN  FRIARY,  OXFORD  (Skelton,  "  Oxonia  Antiqua  Restaurala  ") 257 

Founded  in  1268  by  Henry  III.  ;  dissolved  1539.  Wadham  College  was 
founded  on  its  site  in  1613.  The  buildings  here  pictured,  the  last  remnant 
of  those  erected  for  the  Friars  by  Henry  III.,  were  taken  down  in  1801. 

BIHASI  HALL  AND  POSTMASTERS'  HALL,  OXFORD  (Skelton,  "Oxonia  Antiqua 

Kestaurata  ") 258 

Postmasters'  Hall  (the  high  building  with  dormer  windows)  was  founded 
c.  1380  by  Dr.  John  Willyott  as  a  residence  for  certain  exhibitioners  of 
Merton,  called  Portionists  and  afterwards  Postmasters.  In  1595  these  Post- 
masters moved  into  Merton  College  ;  their  house  became  a  private  residence, 
and  the  Oxford  historian  Anthony  Wood  was  born  there  in  1632.  Biham 
Hall,  which  stood  next  it,  seems  to  have  been  a  lodging-house  for  clerks  or 
students  as  early  as  Henry  III.'s  time.  It  is  now  used  as  stables  for  Merton 
College. 

GLOUCESTER  HALL  (NOW  WORCESTER  COLLEGE),  OXFORD 259 

This  college  was  founded  in  1283,  as  a  residence  for  thirteen  monks  to 
be  chosen  out  of  the  brotherhood  at  Gloucester  and  sent  to  study  at  Oxford. 
It  was  afterwards  empowered  to  receive  Benedictine  students  from  other 
monasteries,  and  the  buildings  were  enlarged  to  that  end  in  1298.  After 
the  dissolution  of  the  monasteries  it  became  a  dependency  of  S.  John's 
College,  till  in  1714  it  passed  to  Sir  Thomas  Cookes,  a  Worcestershire 
gentleman,  who  re-established  it  on  a  new  footing  under  the  title  of 
Worcester  College.  A  considerable  part  of  the  buildings  erected  in  1298 
still  remains  ;  the  present  illustration  is  from  a  drawing  made  by  David 
Loggan  c.  1673,  when  they  were  very  little  altered,  save  by  decay — for  the 
college  went  to  ruin  after  the  Civil  War — and  the  building  of  a  new  chapel. 

OLD  BUILDINGS  OF  MERTON  COLLEGE,  OXFORD  (Skelton,  "  Oxonia  Antiqua 

Kestaurata") 260 

Walter  de  Merton,  Bishop  of  Rochester  1274,  Chancellor  to  Henry  III. 
1260-3,  and  to  Edward  I.  1273-7,  founded  in  12643  House  of  Scholars  at 
Maiden  in  Surrey,  for  the  support  of  twenty  students,  who  were  to  live 
together,  under  certain  rules  or  statutes,  at  Oxford  or  some  other  Uni- 
versitv.  In  1274  he  settled  the  students  definitely  at  Oxford,  transferred 
the  Maiden  house  thither,  and  drew  up  for  the  college  thus  established  a 
set  of  statutes  which  laid  the  foundation  of  the  collegiate  system.  It  is 
doubtful  whether  any  part  of  his  building  now  remains.  That  here  repre- 
sented seems  to  have  been  erected  early  in  the  fourteenth  century,  perhaps 
for  a  refectory,  on  the  site  of  two  houses  which  he  purchased  to  form  the 
nucleus  of  his  college.  It  stood  on  the  west  side  of  S.  Alban's  Hall,  facing 
the  present  college  buildings,  and  was  demolished  in  1812. 

CORONATION  AND  UNCTION  OF  A  KING 267 

From  MS.  Cambridge  University  Library  Ee.  iii.  59  ;  a  French  Life  of 
S.  Edward  the  Confessor,  written  and  illuminated  in  England,  dedicated  to 
Queen  Eleanor  of  Provence,  and  probably  presented  to  her  at  the  restora- 
tion of  Westminster  Abbey  in  1245.  The  coronation  here  intended  is  that 
of  Edward,  but  the  youthful  figure  of  the  king  is  probably  a  portrait  of 
Henry  III. 

CONSECRATION  OF  A  BISHOP 269 

From  Matthew  Paris's  "Vitae  Duarum  Offarum,"  MS.  Cotton  Nero  D.  i. 
(British  Museum) ;  probably  by  Matthew's  own  hand. 

HENRY  III.  SAILING  TO  BRITANNY,  1230  (MS.  Koy.  14  C.  vii.) 270 

HUBERT  DE  BURGH  IN  SANCTUARY  AT  MERTON,  1232  (MS.  Roy.  14  C.  vii).   .      271 

HENRY  III.  CARRYING  THE  HOLY  BLOOD  IN  PROCESSION  TO  WESTMINSTER 

(MS.  C.  C.  C.    Camb.  xvi.) 271 

These  illustrations  are  from  drawings  by  Matthew  Paris.     In  1247  Henry 
received  from  the  Holy  Land  a  crystal  vessel  said  to  contain  some  drops  of 
the  Blood  of  Christ.      The  King  carried  it  in  procession  to  Westminster  on        • 
S.  Edward's  Day,  October  13. 


NOTES   ON   THE   ILLUSTRATIONS  xvii 


PAG* 

MARRIAGE  OF  HENRY  III.  (MS.  Roy.  14  C.  vii.) 272 

By  Matthew  Paris. 

A  ROYAL  MARRIAGE  (MS.  Colt.  Nero  D.  i.)     273 

Probably  by  Matthew  Paris. 

EDMUND,  SON  OF  HENRY  III.,  IN  HIS  CRADLE,  1244  (MS.  Roy.  14  C.  vii.)  .      273 
By  Matthew  Paris. 

KING  AND  COURT  (MS.  Coll.  Nero  D.  i.) 274 

Probably  by  Matthew  Paris. 

CONSECRATION  OF  ARCHBISHOP  EDMUND  (MS.  Roy.  14  C.  vii.} 275 

HENRY  III.  SAILING  HOME  FROM  GASCONY,  1243  (MS.  Roy.  14  C.  vii.)    .    .      276 
Both  by  Matthew  Paris. 

LEGATINE  COUNCIL  IN  LONDON,  1237  (MS.  Roy.  14  C.  vii.) 277 

By  Matthew  Paris. 

MATTHEW   PARIS   AT  THE  FEET  OF  THE    VIRGIN  AND  CHILD  (MS.  Roy. 

14  C.  vii.) To  face  p.    278 

Drawn  by  himself. 

THE  PAPAL  COURT  (MS.  Camb.  Univ.  Lib.  Ee.  Hi.  59) 279 

FOUNDATION  OF  A  MINSTER  (MS.  Cott.  Nero  D.  i.) 280,  281 

Probably  by  Matthew  Paris. 

JOHN  OF  WALLINGFORD        283 

Monk  of  St.  Alban's,  1231-1258,  and  writer  or  transcriber  of  the  Chronicle 
(MS.  Cotton,  Julius  D.  vii.  British  Museum)  in  which  this  portrait  is  inserted, 
probably  by  Matthew  Paris. 

A  FRANCISCAN  (MS.  C.  C.  C.  Camb.  xvi.) 284 

By  Matthew  Paris. 

ALEXANDER  HALES,  FRANCISCAN 287 

From  a  MS.  in  Cambridge  University  Library,  M  a.  v  31 — a  contem- 
porary, possibly  autograph,  MS.  of  a  Commentary  on  the  Apocalypse  by 
Alexander  of  Hales,  who  is  here  portrayed  in  his  Franciscan  habit,  and 
in  the  act  of  receiving  the  Holy  Communion.  Born  at  Hales  in  Gloucester- 
shire, Alexander  studied  in  Paris  and  became  a  famous  teacher  of  philo- 
sophy. He  joined  the  Order  of  S.  Francis  in  1228  and  died  in  1250. 

SIMON  DE  MONTFORT 289 

From  a  glass-painting  in  a  window  of  Chartres  Cathedral,  c.  1231. 

SEAL  OF  SIMON  DE  MONTFORT 291 

From  an  impression  in  the  British  Museum. 

KINGS  IN  ARMOUR 293 

From  MS.  Camb.  Univ.  Lib.  Ee.  iii.  59.  This  illumination  represents  a 
single  combat  between  Eadmund  Ironside  and  Cnut.  It  is  here  given  as  an 
illustration  of  armour  and  horse-trappings  c.  1245. 

THE  TOWER  OF  LONDON 295 

From  a  reproduction  in  "  VetustaMonumenta"  of  "  A  true  and  exact  draught 
of  the  Tower  Liberties,  surveyed  in  the  year  1597  by  Gulielmus  Hayward  and 
J.  Gascoyne,"  to  illustrate  "  A  Description  of  the  Tower  .  .  .  made  by  direc- 
tion of  Sir  John  Peyton."  There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  Tower  and 
its  surroundings  were  (save  for  the  guns)  virtually  unaltered  since  the  thirteenth 
century. 

KING  OF  FRANCE 297 

An  illumination  inserted  at  the  end  of  a  Psalter,  MS.  Roy.  2  A.  xxii.  (British 
Museum).  It  is  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  is  supposed  to  represent  a 
French  king,  from  the  fleurs-de-lis  on  the  robe. 

VIEW  OF  LEWES,  FROM  THE  DOWNS  NEAR  MOUNT  HARRY 299 

Mount  Harry,  popularly  supposed  to  be  named  after  Henry  III.,  is  the  highest 
point  of  the  Downs  north-west  of  Lewes.  The  castle  stood  on  the  north  side 
of  the  town,  the  priory  on  the  south. 

KNIGHT  IN  ARMOUR  (MS.  Roy.  2.  A.  xxii.) 303 


xviii  NOTES   ON    THE   ILLUSTRATIONS 


THE  VIRGIN  AND  CHILD  (MS.  Roy.  2.  A.  xxii.) To  face  p.      304 

FACSIMILE  FROM  RED  BOOK  OF  HERGEST 307 

This  book,  now  in  Jesus  College,  Oxford,  contains  the  best  existing  text  of 
the  Mabinogion.  It  is  a  fine  Welsh  MS.  of  the  fourteenth  century.  The 
page  here  given  is  the  opening  of  the  story  of  Geraint  and  Enid. 

MAP  TO   ILLUSTRATE  THE   WELSH   WARS   OF  WILLIAM    RUFUS  AND  HENRY  I.        3IO 
From  Mr.  Freeman's  "William  Rufus." 

KEEP  OF  BRIDGENORTH  CASTLE 311 

Built  by  Robert  of  Belesme  in  1101-2;  known  as  "the  leaning  tower  of 
Bridgenorth,"  the  castle  having  been  blown  up  by  the  Parliamentary  troops  in 
the  Civil  War,  and  the  tower  thus  thrown  out  of  perpendicular. 

CARDIFF  CASTLE 312 

The  polygonal  shell-keep  was  probably  built  by  Earl  Robert  of  Gloucester, 
son  of  Henry  I.  and  son-in-law  and  successor  to  Robert  Fitz-Hamo.  The 
mound  on  which  it  stands  was  either  Fitz-Hamo's  own  work,  or  was  already 
there  before  his  time.  The  rest  of  the  building  here  shown,  a  gate-tower 
leading  to  the  keep,  dates  from  the  early  fifteenth  century. 

PEMBROKE  CASTLE 314 

The  finest  example  in  England  of  a  very  rare  type  of  military  architecture. 
The  keep  is  not  a  shell,  as  circular  keeps  usually  are,  but  a  real  donjon,  as 
solid  as  the  square  keeps  of  Richmond  or  Rochester.  It  was  built  by  the  De 
Clares  or  the  Marshals,  early  in  the  thirteenth  century. 

WELSH  FOOTSOLDIER  AND  ARCHER 315 

From  an  entry-book  of  Edward  I.'s  time,  formerly  among  the  documents 
pertaining  to  the  Treasury  of  Receipt  of  Exchequer,  and  kept  in  the  Chapter- 
house at  Westminster  ;  now  transferred  to  the  Public  Record  Office,  where  the 
book  is  known  as  Chapter-house  Liber  A. 

LADY  CHAPEL,  GLASTONBURY 316 

Glastonbury  abbey  church  was  burnt  down  in  1184.  The  rebuilding  was 
begun  at  once,  and  the  first  part  completed  was  the  Lady  Chapel  at  the  west 
end.  In  the  fifteenth  century  it  became  better  known  as  the  chapel  of  S. 
Joseph  of  Arimathea,  who  was  regarded  as  the  original  founder  of  the  church 
on  whose  site  it  stood — the  "ancient  church"  beside  which  Ine  had  reared  his 
abbey  (see  p.  67).  Its  architecture  is  extremely  interesting  ;  Norman  orna- 
mentation is  combined  with  a  French  type  of  capitals  and  mouldings  to  produce 
a  style  which  as  a  whole  is  thoroughly  English,  a  peculiarly  graceful  form 
assumed  in  Somerset,  and  especially  at  Glastonbury,  by  the  transition  from 
Romanesque  to  Gothic  which  was  taking  place  in  the  later  years  of  Henry  II. 

LLANTHONY  PRIORY,  GLAMORGANSHIRE 317 

An  Austin  priory,  founded  in  1108.  The  establishment  was  removed  to 
Gloucester  in  1139,  but  the  old  house  (near  Abergavenny)  lived  on  as  a  cell  to 
the  new  one,  and  was  rebuilt  c.  1200-1220.  It  is  an  interesting  example  of  a 
peculiar  type  of  Transition  architecture,  seen  in  its  perfection  in  South  Wales. 

GRIFFIN  ESCAPING  FROM  THE  TOWER 318 

Griffin,  a  son  of  Llewelyn  ap  Jorwerth,  was  betrayed  by  his  brother  David 
to  the  English,  and  imprisoned  in  the  Tower.  In  1243  he  tried  to  escape,  but 
the  rope  broke  and  he  fell  and  broke  his  neck.  The  drawing  is  by  Matthew 
Paris  (MS.  Corpus  Christi  College  Cambridge  xvi.). 

REMAINS  OF  BISHOP'S  PALACE,  S.  DAVID'S 319 

Built  c.  1342  by  Gower,  who  was  bishop  1328-1347.  The  finest  specimen  of 
a  peculiar  and  very  beautiful  type  of  Decorated  architecture,  of  which  Bishop 
Gower  seems  to  have  been  the  inventor,  and  which  may  be  traced  in  several 
other  buildings  in  Pembrokeshire. 

CONWAY  CASTLE 321 

Begun  1285,  and  finished  before  the  death  of  Edward  I. 

CAERNARVON  CASTLE 321 

Built  1283-1322. 

GREAT  SEAL  OF  EDWARD  I % 323 


NOTES   ON   THE   ILLUSTRATIONS 


THE  CHANCELLOR'S  SEAL  BAG  ( Journal  of  Arch&ological  Association)    ....      325 

Sculptured  on  the  tomb  of  Walter  de  Merton,  in  Rochester  Cathedral. 
Walter  died  in  1277. 

SEAL  OF  STATUTE  MERCHANT,  GLOUCESTER,  1307— 27  (Collection  of  Society  of  . 

Antiquaries') , 327 

Under  the  Statute  of  Merchants,  issued  in  1283  and  re-issued  in  1285, 
merchants  could  have  their  debts  enrolled  before  the  Mayor  of  London  or  of 
some  other  appointed  town  ;  the  obligation  was  sealed  with  the  seals  of  the 
debtor  and  of  the  king,  and  if  the  debtor  failed  to  pay  in  due  time  it  served  as 
a  warrant  for  his  attachment.  The  seal  here  figured  bears  the  image  not  of 
Edward  I.  but  of  his  son,  and  was  made  for  the  purposes  of  this  statute  under 
Edward  II. 

SEAL  OF  WILLIAM  MORAUNT  (Archaeological Journal) 328 

This  seal,  representing  the  owner's  manor-house,  is  attached  to  a  deed  dated 
June,  1272,  whereby  William  Moraunt  grants  to  Peter  Picard  one  acre  of  land 
at  Otford,  in  Kent. 

MANOR-HOUSE,  ACTON  BURNELL,  SHROPSHIRE  (Arehaological  Journal)  .   .    .    .      328 

Built  by  Robert  Burnell,  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Chancellor  to  Edward  I.  The 
king's  license  to  crenellate  is  dated  1 283  ;  the  Parliament  of  Acton  Burnell 
therefore  was  probably  not  held  in  the  new  manor-house,  which  could  hardly 
have  been  finished  in  a  year,  but,  according  to  local  tradition,  in  a  neighbour- 
ing building  still  called  "the  Parliament- house,"  of  which  only  the  two  end 
gables  now  remain. 

URASS,  IN  GORLESTON  CHURCH,  SUFFOLK  (Suckling,  "History  of  Suffolk")    .    .      332 
Probably  John  Bacon,  who  died  1292. 

MAN    WITH    Bow   AND    ARROWS,    WOMAN    WITH    DISTAFF,    FOURTEENTH 

CENTURY 333 

From  a  Psalter  known  as  Queen  Mary's  (MS.  Roy.  2  B.  vii.,  British 
Museum).  This  and  the  two  following  illustrations  are  given  here  to  show  the 
dress  of  English  peasants  in  the  time  of  the  Edwards. 

BOB- APPLE  (AfS.  Roy.  2  B.  vii.) 334 

CLUB-BALL : •    .       .   .     334 

From  MS.  Roy.  10  E.  iv.  (British  Museum),  a  splendid  copy  of  the 
Decretals,  once  the  property  of  S.  Bartholomew's  Priory,  Smithfield.  The 
margins  are  covered  with  illustrations  of  fables,  &c.,  added'  by  an  English 
hand  to  a  MS.  written  for  French  use,  early  in  the  fourteenth  century.  The 
game  here  represented  seems  to  be  a  variety  of  club-ball,  though  what  the 
players  hold  are  not  exactly  clubs. 

TOLL-HOUSE,  GREAT  YARMOUTH  (Journal  of  Archaeological  A  ssociation)  .    .    .   .      335 

This  building,  of  which  the  greater  part  dates  from  the  thirteenth  century, 
was  called  the  Toll-house,  from  the  great  chamber  on  the  first  floor  where  the 
bailiffs  received  their  tolls.    It  "was  also  called  the  Host-house,  because  in  the 
great  chamber  the  hosts,  to  whom  foreign  fishermen  entrusted  the  sale  of  their 
herrings,  were  accustomed  to  assemble  and  pay  their  "  heighning  money,"  being 
the  difference  between  the  "  tide  price  "  fixed  by  the  Corporation  when  the  fish 
was  first  landed  and  the  selling  price  ;  which  difference  the  Corporation  claimed 
as  part  of  the  town  revenue.     Hence  the  above  apartment  was  also  called  the 
Heighning  Chamber.     Beneath  the  main  building  is  an  underground  room, 
20  feet  long,    12  wide,   and  16  high,   called  "the  hold,"  originally  used  aa.  ; 
a  dungeon  into  which  all  prisoners  were  thrust  without  distinction.     It  had  j, 
a  huge  beam  placed  along  the  centre,  with  iron  rings  at  intervals,  to  which    ', 
prisoners  were  chained  "  (Palmer,  "Perlustration  of  Great  Yarmouth,"  ii.  2^\)\  ^ 
a  "gaol  for  prisoners  and  malefactors'"  having  been  granted  to  the  town  by 
Henry  III.  in  1261.     This  prison  was  in  use  till  the  beginning  of  the  present 
century.     The  great  chamber  also  served  for  the  weekly  Borough  Court  (held 
ever  since  John  s  time)  and  for  the  trial  of  prisoners  before  the  bailiffs.     Since 
1622  it  has  also  been  used  instead  of  the  old  Guildhall  for  the  meetings  of  the 
Corporation,  and  for  the  Assizes. 
VOL  I— D 


xx  NOTES   ON   THE   ILLUSTRATIONS 


TOWN-WALL  AND  TOWER,  KING'S  LYNN 336 

From  an  engraving,  in  William  Taylor's  "Antiquities  of  King's  Lynn,"  of 
a  drawing  made  just  before  the  wall  was  taken  down.  From  the  close  re- 
semblance of  the  arches  to  some  still  remaining  at  Castle  Rising,  and  known 
to  be  of  the  early  thirteenth  century,  it  is  believed  that  the  Lynn  walls  were 
of  about  the  same  date.  They  were  possibly  built  by  Savaric  de  Mauleon,  to 
whom  John  intrusted  the  fortification  of  Lynn  in  1216. 

SEAL  OF  ROCHESTER,  c.  1300  (Society '  of Antiquaries) 337 

Obverse,  S.  Andrew,  patron  saint  of  the  cathedral  and  town  ;  reverse,  a 
very  good  representation  of  Rochester  Castle. 

OLD  BRISTOL  BRIDGE 338 

Built  in  1247  ;  taken  down  1762-3,  when  there  were  found,  inside  one  of 
the  piers,  remnants  of  timber  construction  which  had  evidently  formed  part  of 
a  still  older  wooden  bridge,  round  which  the  new  piers  were  built.  The 
bridge  appeared  to  have  been  originally  designed  to  have  houses  on  it,  though 
none  of  those  actually  remaining  could  be  traced  further  back  than  Edward  IV. 
The  view  here  reproduced  from  Seyer's  "Memorials  of  Bristol"  was  taken 
from  a  drawing  made  shortly  before  the  demolition. 

SEAL  OF  DOVER,  1305  (Society  of  Antiquaries) 339 

Obverse,  S.  Martin,  the  patron  saint  of  the  town,  cutting  his  cloak  in  halves 
to  share  it  with  a  beggar  ;  reverse,  a  ship,  the  usual  emblem  of  a  sea-port. 

SILVER  OAR  OF  ADMIRALTY  OF  THE  CINQUE  PORTS  {Archaeological Journal)        340 

This  oar  belongs  to  the  Corporation  of  Dover,  which  was  the  head-quarters 
of  the  Cinque  Ports  Constitution.  It  is  3  feet  long,  made  of  silver,  with  gilt 
knobs,  and  dates  from  about  1300.  The  first  recorded  Admiral  of  the  Cinque 
Ports  was  Gervase  Alard,  in  1299.  But  the  Court  of  Admiralty  was  coeval 
with  the  office  of  Warden,  which  dates  from  the  time  of  the  Norman  kings. 
The  Court  was  held  in  S.  James's  church  at  Dover.  A  silver  oar  is  used 
instead  of  a  mace  in  the  Admiralty  Courts  and  by  the  chief  magistrate  of 
towns  which  had  maritime  jurisdiction. 

TRUMPET  OF  CORPORATION  OF  DOVER  (Journal  of  Archeeological  Association)  .      340 

A  horn  of  stout  latten,  finely  engraved,  and  bearing  on  the  ribbon  or  scroll 
the  letters  A.  G.  L.  A.  and  the  words  "Johannes  de  Alemaine  me  fecit." 
The  letters  stand  for  Hebrew  words  meaning  "Thou  art  mighty  for  ever,  O 
Lord."  John  of  Alemaine  may  have  been  a  Nuremberg  artist,  as  Nuremberg 
was  noted  for  its  latten  work  and  its  musical  instruments.  The  silver  mouth- 
piece is  comparatively  modern  ;  the  trumpet  itself  is  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
at  the  latest  1300.  It  used  to  'be  sounded  on  September  8  as  a  summons  to 
the  townsmen  to  assemble  in  "common  hall"  for  the  election  of  a  mayor. 
The  day  of  meeting  was  thence  called  "  Horn-blowing." 

MOOT  HORN  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  FAVERSHAM 341 

From  a  photograph.  This  horn  served  for  the  calling  of  local  assemblies, 
like  the  Dover  trumpet.  It  is  one  of  the  oldest  existing  moot-horns,  and  dates 
from  the  early  fourteenth  century. 

S.  ETHELBERT'S  GATE,  NORWICH 343 

From  a  photograph.  This  is  one  of  two  gates  leading  from  the  town  into 
the  Cathedral  precincts  or  Close.  The  citizens  of  Norwich  and  the  monks  of 
the  Cathedral  monasteiy  were  constantly  at  strife  as  to  disputed  jurisdiction, 
tolls,  market-rights,  and  so  forth,  and  in  1272  there  was  a  furious  fight,  in 
which  the  monastery  was  burnt,  the  church  plundered,  and  the  monks  were 
all  slaughtered  or  put  to  flight.  The  prior  gathered  troops  at  Yarmouth  and 
retaliated  upon  the  town  ;  for  more  than  two  years  the  strife  went  on  ;  at  last 
Edward  enforced  a  pacification,  gave  the  monks  leave  to  make  new  gates  to 
their  Close  and  to  keep  them  closed  at  their  pleasure,  and  ordered  the  citizens 
to  pay  500  marks  yearly  for  six  years  towards  the  cost  of  the  new  building. 
S.  Ethelbert's  Gate  was  built  accordingly  in  1275.  It  took  its  name  from  a 
neighbouring  church,  which  had  also  been  burnt  in  1272.  Over  the  gate  was 
a  chapel,  with  a  window  on  the  east  side  ;  the  side  here  figured  is  the  western, 
facing  the  town,  and  this  had  originally  four  small  windows,  now  blocked  up, 
which  served  as  loopholes  to  shoot  from  in  case  of  attack.  The  lower  part  of 
the  gateway  is  of  stone,  the  upper  part  of  faced  and  squared  flint,  with  stone  . 
tracery  let  in  ;  this  has  been  restored,  but  exactly  after  the  old  pattern. 


NOTES    ON    THE    ILLUSTRATIONS  xxi 


ELEANOR  OF  CASTILE  (Stothard,  "  Monumentu I  Effigies  ") 346 

From  her  tomb  in  Westminster  Abbey. 

Two  KNIGHTS  TILTING,  AND  HERALDS  BLOWING  TRUMPETS 348 

From  MS.  Roy.  IO  E.  iv.  (British  Museum). 

A  ROYAL  BANQUET,  A.D.   1338-44. 348 

From  MS.  Bodleian  Misc.  264,  the  Romance  of  Alexander,  illuminated  A. n. 
1 338-44  by  Jehan  de  Grise,  a  French  artist,  probably  working  in  England. 

SIR  GEOFFREY  LOUTRELL,  HIS  WIFE  AND  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW 349 

Sir  Geoffrey  Loutrell,  of  Irnham,  Lincolnshire,  was  born  1276,  and  died 
1345.  His  wife,  Agnes  de  Sutton,  holds  his  jousting- helmet  and  his  banner  ; 
the  lady  who  holds  his  shield  is  either  Beatrice  Scrope,  wife  of  their  eldest  son 
Andrew,  or  her  sister  Constance,  wife  of  the  second  son,  Geoffrey.  Both 
these  couples  were  married  as  children  in  1319  ;  the  date  of  the  illumination 
therefore  must  lie  between  that  year  and  the  death  of  Agnes,  in  1 340.  The 
MS.  is  a  Psalter,  written  for  Sir  Geoffrey,  as  the  inscription  above  this  picture 
shows.  From  the  -Loutrells  it  passed  to  Lord  William  Howard,  Wrarden  of 
the  Western  Marches  under  Elizabeth,  and  bears  his  autograph.  It  finally 
went  to  the  Weld  family,  of  Lulworth  Castle,  Dorset.  The  illustrations  from 
it  given  here  are  copied  from  the  reproductions  in  "  Vetusta  Monumenta." 

r.niNBURGH  CASTLE,  FROM  THE  SOUTH    .  • 352 

From  Slezer's  "Theatrum  Scotiae,"  a  survey  of  the  castles  of  Scotland  made 
by  a  Dutch  officer  under  William  and  Mary,  1693.  The  present  castle,  begun 
by  Edward  III.  in  1344,  became  a  royal  residence  of  the  Stuarts,  who  added 
to  it  greatly  throughout  the  fourteenth,  fifteenth,  and  early  sixteenth  centuries. 
The  earlier  castle  had  been  demolished  by  Bruce,  all  but  S.  Margaret's  Chapel 
(see  p.  357). 

MAP  OF  SCOTLAND  IN  1290 To  face  p.      350 

CHESSMEN,  SCANDINAVIAN,  FOUND  IN  THE  ISLE  OF  LEWIS 354 

These  specimens  belong  to  the  remains  of  six  or  more  different  sets  of  chess- 
men, which  are  now  in  the  British  Museum.  They  are  Scandinavian  work  of 
the  twelfth  or  thirteenth  century,  beautifully  carved  in  walrus-tusk,  and  some 
of  them  stained  red.  They  illustrate  the  costume  of  northern  kings,  queens, 
bishops,  and  warriors  of  the  time. 

S.  LUKE,  FROM  S.  MARGARET'S  GOSPEL-BOOK 356 

This  book,  now  in  the  Bodleian  Library,  belonged  to  S.  Margaret,  Queen 
of  Scotland,  and  was  probably  used  by  her  at  the  services  in  the  abbey-church 
which  she  founded  at  Dunfermline.  The  illuminations  of  the  four  Evangelists, 
one  of  which  is  here  reproduced,  are  English  work  of  the  eleventh  century,  of 
a  Byzantine  type. 

S.  MARGARET'S  CHAPEL,  EDINBURGH  CASTLE 357 

Built  by  Margaret  for  her  private  chapel ;  here  engraved  from  a  photograph. 

WEST  DOOR  OF  ABERBROTHOCK  ABBEY  CHURCH      358 

This  abbey  (near  S.  Andrews)  was  founded  by  William  the  Lion,  King  of 
Scots,  in  honour  of  S.  Thomas  of  Canterbury.  Its  monks  were  of  the  order 
of  Tiron.  This  doorway  must  be  one  of  the  earliest  portions  of  the  building, 
which  was  begun  in  1178  and  finished  in  1233. 

NEW,  OR  SWEETHEART  ABBEY,  KIRCUDBRIGHTSHIRE 360 

A  Cistercian  house,  founded  in  1275  by  Dervorgilla  of  Galloway,  John 
Balliol's  mother,  from  whom  he  derived  his  claim  to  the  Scottish  crown. 
Dervorgilla's  husband,  another  John  Balliol,  had  died  in  1269,  and  she  had 
caused  his  heart  to  be  embalmed  and  placed  in  an  ivory  casket,  which  she 
carried  about  with  her  always,  and  ordered  to  be  laid  upon  her  own  heart  when 
she  was  buried  (1290)  in  this  church,  thence  called  Sweetheart  Abbey. 

CAKRLAVEROCK  CASTLE  (after  J.  At.  IV.  Turner) 362 

Caerlaverock  is  in  Dumfriesshire  ;  it  stands  on  a  peninsula  in  the  Solway.  It 
was  rebuilt  about  1400,  but  on  the  plan  of  the  older  castle  as  described  in  the 
contemporary  poem  on  the  Siege  of  Caerlaverock,  1300. 

THE  CORONATION-CHAIR,  WESTMINSTER  ABBEY  (from  a  photograph}   ....      364 
STIRLING  (after  J.  M.  W.  Turner) 365 


xxii  NOTES    ON    THE   ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

SCOTTISH  FOOT-SOLDIKR,  temp.  EDWARD  1 366 

From  Chapter-house  Liber  A,  Public  Record  Office. 

FELLING  A  TREE  ( MS.  Colt.  Nero  D.  ;'.) 369 

Probably  drawn  by  Matthew  Paris. 

WINDMILL,  A.D.  1338-44  (A/5.  Bodl.  Misc.  264) 370 

TRIAL  BY  BATTLE 372 

From  a  fragment  of  an  Assize  Roll,  undated,  but  belonging  to  the  reign  of 
Henry  III.,  and  preserved  in  the  Public  Record  Office.  The  sketch  repre- 
sents a  judicial  combat  between  Walter  Bloweberme  and  Hamo  le  Stare. 
Walter  was  an  approver  ;  i.e.  a  criminal  who  had  confessed  his  crime,  and 
been  pardoned  on  condition  of  denouncing  his  accomplices  and  vanquishing 
them  in  combat.  He  denounced  amongst  others,  Hamo  le  Stare  as  having 
been  concerned  with  him  in  a  robbery  at  Winchester.  Hamo  denied  the 
charge  ;  a  judicial  combat  took  place  ;  Hamo  was  defeated,  and  hanged 
accordingly. 

SEAL  OF  EXETER,  c.  1170  (Society  of  Antiquaries) 374 

Interesting  from  its  representation  of  the  Gildhall. 

HALL  OF  S.  MARY'S  GILD,  LINCOLN     375 

From  a  photograph.  This  hall  stands  in  the  lower  town  of  Lincoln,  and  is 
now  vulgarly  called  John  of  Gaunt's  Stables.  The  history  of  the  gild  to  which 
it  belonged  is  obscure,  and  there  is  no  documentary  evidence  of  it  before  1250  ; 
the  building  however  is  undoubtedly  of  the  twelfth  century. 

SEAL  OF  GILD  MERCHANT,  GLOUCESTER,  c.  1200 376 

The  device  on  this  seal  is  a  convantional  representation  of  one  of  the  city 
gates.  The  engraving  is  lent  by  Mr.  W.  II.  St.  John  Hope. 

BAKERS,  AD.   1293 377 

From  the  Assisa  Panis,  xxi.  Ed.  I — xvi.  Hen.  VI.,  a  folio  volume  belong- 
ing to  the  Corporation  of  London,  written  on  parchment,  and  containing 
entries  relating  to  the  Assize  of  Bread  by  the  civic  authorities  from  1293  to 
1438.  The  sketch  here  reproduced  shews  a  baker  standing  at  his  oven-door, 
and  a  fraudulent  baker  being  drawn  to  the  pillory  with  a  short-weight  loaf 
hung  round  his  neck.  Thq  bakers  were  among  the  very  first  craftsmen  to 
form  themselves  into  gilds. 

BAKERS  AND  COOKS,  A.D.  1338-44  (MS.  Bodl.  Mhc.  264) 378 

The  cooks  were  a  separate  craft,  almost  as  important  as  the  bakers.  In  this 
picture  the  first  group  are  making  bread,  the  second  roasting  fowls. 

COOKING  OUTSIDE  A  TAVERN,  A.D.  1388-44  (A/5.  Bodl.  Misc.  264) 378 

To  illustrate  the  hostellers'  craft. 

VINTNERS,  A.D.   1338-44(^/6".  Bodl.  Misc.  264) 379 

Treading  grapes  and  filling  wine-barrels  ;  an  illustration  of  the  vintners'  craft. 

IRON-WORKERS,  A.D.  1338-44  (MS.  Bodl.  Misc.  264) 379 

This  forge  is  exactly  like  those  now  used  by  the  nail  and  chain-makers  in 
the  Black  Country,  whose  work  is  still  carried  on  under  the  rude  conditions  of 
primitive  industry.  The  fire,  under  a  stone  canopy,  is  kept  alive  by  bellows 
attached  to  a  pulley  fixed  at  the  back  of  the  chimney,  and  a  boy  mounted  on 
the  wooden  framework  of  the  pulley  works  the  bellows  with  his  foot.  The 
"lorimers,"  iron  and  coppersmiths,  were  very  early  associated  in  a  craft-gild. 

ARMOURERS,  1338-44  (MS.  Bodl.  Misc.  264) 380 

An  illustration  of  one  of  the  most  important  crafts  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
Three  of  the  workmen  seem  to  be  making  various  pieces  of  coat-armour ; 
sundry  tools  lie  on  the  table,  and  there  is  a  curious  double  bellows. 

WEIGHING  AND  LADING,  A.D.  1338-44  (A/IS".  Bodl.  Misc.  264) 380 

In  the  trading  towns,  especially  in  the  sea-ports,  the  Porters  and  Measurers 
were  employed  by  the  community,  and  ropes  supplied  to  them  from  the  town- 
funds. 

WINDLASS,  EARLY  FOURTEENTH  CENTURY  (MS.  Roy.  10  E.  iv.) 381 

MONEY-BOX  OF  THE  CORDWAINERS  OF  OXFORD  (Archaological  Journal)  .    .   .      382 

A  box,  nine  inches  in  heighth,  of  wood,  seemingly  elm,  with  five  iron 
hoops,  two  locks,  and  a  chain.  Its  date  is  unknown  ;  it  seems  to  have  been 
disused  in  1587.  The  Cordwainers'  Gild  began  under  Henry  I. 


NOTES   ON   THE   ILLUSTRATIONS  xxiii 


ENTRANCE  TO  CHOIR  OF  OLD  S.  PAUL'S,  LONDON 
CHURCH  OF  S.  FAITH  UNDER  S.  PAUL'S 


}       384 


From  engravings  by  W.  Hollar,  1657.  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  was  rebuilt 
1087 — 1128,  and  restored  after  a  fire  in  1136  ;  the  eastern  limb  and  the  tower 
were  again  rebuilt  1220 — 1240  ;  in  1255 — 1 283  the  fabric  was  lengthened  east- 
ward ;  a  wooden  spire  crowned  it  in  1314.  The  round-arched  work  in  the 
transept  walls  belongs  to  the  first  or  second  of  these  periods  of  building,  the 
choir  to  the  third,  and  the  screen  to  the  last.  An  old  church  of  S.  Faith, 
which  stood  at  the  east  end  of  S.  Paul's,  was  demolished  in  1256  to  make 
room  for  lengthening  the  choir  of  the  cathedral  ;  the  crypt  under  the  new 
buildings  was  made  to  serve  as  a  parish  church  in  its  stead. 

WEST  FRONT  OF  OLD  S.  PAUL'S 3^5 

A  sketch  in  MS.  Lambeth  1106,  early  fourteenth  century. 

OPENING  OF  THE  TOMB  OF  EDWARD  THE  CONFESSOR 386 

This  scene,  from  MS.  Camb.  Univ.  Libr.  Ee.  iii.  59,  which  shews  the 
shrine  as  it  was  in  1245,  represents  the  opening  of  Edward's  tomb  in  1102 
by  Abbot  Gilbert  of  Westminster  and  Bishop  Gundulf  of  Rochester,  to  see 
whether  the  story  of  the  incorruption  of  the  body  was  true.  The  king  is 
meant  for  Henry  I.,  but  is  probably  another  likeness  of  Henry  III. 

VENICE,  A.D.  1338 — 44  (MS.  Bodl.  Misc.  264) To  face  p.  386 

The  second  part  of  this  MS.  consists  of  the  Travels  of  Marco  Polo,  to  which 
this  picture,  representing  his  embarkation  at  Venice,  forms  the  frontispiece. 
The  illumination,  like  those  in  the  Romance  of  Alexander,  is  by  Jehan 
de  Grise. 

IRON  SCREEN  ON  TOMB  OF  ELEANOR  OF  CASTILE  IN  WESTMINSTER  ABBEY  .      387 

From  a  photograph.  This  screen  was  wrought  by  an  Englishman,  Master 
Thomas  of  Leighton,  in  1293.  The  price  paid  to  him  for  it  was  twelve  pounds, 
paid  in  three  instalments. 

BRIDGE  OVER  THE  ESK  AT  DANBY,  CLEVELAND 388 

Built  early  in  the  fourteenth  century  by  one  of  the  Nevilles,  Lord  Latimer, 
whose  arms  are  carved  on  it.      Now  known  as  the  Duck  Bridge,  from  having    . 
been  repaired  in  the  last  century  by  a  man  named  Duck. 

CARTS,  A.D.  1338—44  (MS.  Bodl.  Misc.  264) 390,  391 

SATIRE  ON  THE  JEWS  OF  NORWICH,  TEMP.  HENRY  III 392 

The  clerk  who  engrossed  the  Jews'  Roll  17  Henry  III.  (Public  Record 
Office)  has  enlivened  its  margin  with  this  sketch.  Isaac  of  Norwich,  a  famous 
Jew  of  the  time,  is  represented  with  a  crown  to  symbolize  his  importance,  and 
with  three  faces,  to  indicate  the  more  than  double-dealing  with  which  his  race 
were  credited  ;  a  head  with  three  faces  was  indeed  the  symbol  employed  to 
represent  a  usurer  on  the  labels  of  the  chests  in  the  Exchequer.  The  chief 
of  a  group  of  demons  bears  the  name  of  Dagon  ;  a  little  imp  with  a  forked 
tongue  seems  to  be  instigating  a  Jew  to  use  a  false  balance  ;  another  demon  is 
mocking  at  a  Jew  nicknamed  Nolle-mokke,  and  at  a  Jewess  called  Avegay, 
whose  figure  is  interesting  as  showing  the  dress  of  the  Jewish  women. 

CHURCH  IN  LONDON  FOR  CONVERTED  JEWS,  A.D.  1233 392 

A  drawing  by  Matthew  Paris,  in  his  autograph  Historia  Anglorum,  MS. 
Roy.  14  C.  vii.  (British  Museum).  In  1233  Henry  built  in  London  a  home 
for  converted  Jews.  They  were  to  be  maintained  partly  by  the  foundation, 
partly  by  their  own  labour,  but  without  servile  work  ;  they  lived  by  rule,  and 
had  a  chaplain  or  master  to  direct  them.  This  mastership  was  annexed  to  the 
office  of  Keeper  of  the  Rolls  in  1377,  and  the  church  of  the  "Domus  Con- 
versorum  "  is  now  represented  by  the  Rolls  Chapel. 

AARON  OF  COLCHESTER 393 

A  caricature  of  a  Jew  of  Colchester — "Aaron  filius  Diaboli" — from  the 
Forest  Roll,  Essex,  5  Ed.  I.  (Public  Record  Office). 

MUSICIANS  AND  AUDIENCE,  A.D.  1338—44 396 

This  and  the  five  following  illustrations  of  music  in  the  fourteenth  century  are 
from  MS.  Bodl.  Misc.  264. 


xxiv  NOTES   ON   THE   ILLUSTRATIONS 


PACK 

VIOLIN  AND  HARP,  A. D.  1338 — 44 396 

HORN-PLAYER,  A.D.  1338—44 


397 
LUTE-PLAYER,  A.D.  1338 — 44  . 

DRUMMER,  A.D.  1338—44 397 

BAGPIPER,  A.D.  1338—44 398 

DAVID  PLAYING  ON  BELLS 398 

From  MS.  Roy.  2  B.  vii.  (British  Museum),  a  fourteenth  century  Psalter,- 

known  as  Queen  Mary's. 

MORRIS-DANCE,  A.D.  1338—44  (MS.  Bodl.  Misc.  264) 399 

CHILDREN  CVTCHING  BUTTERFLIES  WITH  THEIR  HOODS,  A.D.  1338—44  (MS. 

Bodl.  M  sc.  264) .    .      399 

LADY  AND  YOUTH  PLAYING  DRAUGHTS,  EARLY  FOURTEENTH  CENTURY  (MS. 

Roy,  2  B.  vii.) 400 

BED  AND  CRADLE,  EARLY  FOURTEENTH  CENTURY  (MS.  Roy.  2  B.  vii.)  .   .   .     402 

CARVED   CHEST   IN   CHEVINGTON    CHURCH,    SUFFOLK    (Cage,  "History   of 

Su/olk") 403 

Dates  from  the  time  of  Edward  II.  or  Edward  III. 

SEAL  OF  ROBERT  BRUCE,  KING  OF  SCOTS      405 

From  an  impression,  in  the  British  Museum,  of  Robert's  second  Great  Seal. 

STIRLING  CASTLE 407 

From  Slezer's  "Theatrum  Scotiae,"  1693.  The  castle  has  been  almost 
entirely  rebuilt  since  Bruce's  time,  but  the  walls  are  on  the  old  lines.  Under 
the  Stuarts  it  became  a  royal  residence,  and  the  interior  buildings,  palace, 
Parliament- House,  &c.,  date  from  James  III.,  IV.,  and  V. 

SIEGE  OF  CARLISLE  BY  THE  SCOTS,  1315  (Archaeological  Journal} 409 

A  facsimile  of  the  initial  letter  of  a  charter  granted  to  Carlisle  by  Edward  II. 
in  1316. 

WEST  DOOR  OF  ELGIN  CATHEDRAL 411 

This  church,  burnt  down  in  1270,  was  rebuilt  early  in  the  fourteenth  century. 
It  is  by  far  the  grandest  and  the  most  beautifully  decorated  of  all  the  Scottish 
Cathedrals.  Such  a  church,  built  in  the  very  midst  of  the  War  of  Independ- 
ence, in  a  remote  town,  beyond  the  Grampians  and  200  miles  from  the  English 
border,  is  a  speaking  witness  to  the  growth  of  a  national  civilization  unaffected 
by  English  influence. 

BERWICK-UHON-TWEED  (after  J.  M.  W.  Turner}  ....       413 

CORONATION  OF  A  KING To  face  p.  414 

A  facsimile,  greatly  reduced,  of  an  illumination  in  MS.  Corpus  Christi 
College  Cambridge  xx.  It  is  English  work  of  the  early  fourteenth  century, 
and  may  represent  either  Edward  II.  or  Edward  III. 

SCHOOL,  A.  D.  1338— 44  (jl/S.  Bodl.  Misc.  264) o 415 

CHAPEL  ON  WAKEFIELD  BRIDGE  (Archaeological  Journal) 416 

The  chapels  so  often  built  on  bridges  seem  to  have  served  as  resting-places 
for  travellers  as  well  as  for  purposes  of  devotion.  That  at  Wakefield,  one  of 
the  few  still  remaining,  was  built  shortly  before  A.D.  1358,  when  Edward  III. 
granted  ten  pounds  a  year  for  two  chantry  priests  serving  "  the  chapel  of  S. 
Mary,  newly  built  on  Wakefield  Bridge."  The  bridge  has  been  widened  and 
the  chapel  restored,  but  without  altering  its  architectural  character. 

WINCHESTER  MARKET  CROSS 417 

Built  under  Edward  III. 

CONSTANTINOPLE  (Loutrell  Psalter) 418 

Illustrates  an  English  artist's  idea  of  Constantinople  c.  1340,  and  also  a 
group  dancing  to  tabor  and  pipe. 

GF.OKFREY  CHAUCER 419 

Painted  shortly  after  Chaucer's  death,  by  his  friend  and  disciple  Occleve,  in 
the  margin  of  his  book  "De  Regimine  Principum"  (MS.  Harleian  4866, 
British  Museum). 


NOTES   ON   THE    ILLUSTRATIONS  xxv 


PAGE 

THE  CANTERBURY  PILGRIMS 420,  423,  424,  425,  426,  427,  428,  429 

From  the  Ellesmere  MS.  of  the  Canterbury  Tales,  early  fourteenth  century- ; 
here  reproduced  from  Dr.  Furnivall's  edition,  published  by  the  Chaucer 
Society. 

DRINKING-HORN  AT  QUEEN'S  COLLEGE,  OXFORD  (Skelton,   "  Oxo.tia  antiqua 

restaurata ") 432 

This  horn  was  given  to  Queen's  College  by  its  foundress,  Philippa  of 
Hainault,  wife  of  Edward  III.  It  holds  two  quarts,  and  is  a  real  horn, 
semi-transparent  like  tortoise-shell,  ornamented  with  gold ;  the  eagle  on  the 
lid  is  hollow. 

SPINNING  AND  BLOWING  FIRE,  EARLY  FOURTEENTH  CENTURY  (MS.  Roy. 

10  E.  iv.) 433 

Here  the  woman  uses  a  spinning-wheel,  instead  of  the  older  distaff. 

BOAT  WITH  RUDDER,  1338 — 44  (MS.  Bodl.  Misc.  264) 433 

An  early  example  of  a  real  rudder  such  as  is  now  used,  instead  of  the  primi- 
tive contrivance  figured  in  pp.  11,  115,  116,  127,  145,  147. 

GOLD  NOBLE  OF  EDWARD  III 434 

A  new  coin  struck  in  1344;  the  ship  commemorates  the  victory  at  Sluys 
in  1340. 

MEETING  OF  EDWARD  III.  AND  PHILIP  OF  FRANCE,  1331 435 

From  MS.  Roy.  20  C.  vii.  (British  Museum),  a  French  "  Chronique  de  St. 
Denys,"  late  fourteenth  century. 

SHOOTING  AT  BUTTS,  c.  1340  (Loutrell  Psalter) 438 

SEA-FIGHT,  EARLY  FOURTEENTH  CENTURY  (MS.  Roy.  10  E.  iv.) 441 

From  a  comment  made  in  the  Debate  between  the  Heralds  of  England  and 
France,  1458 — 61,  it  appears  that  the  English  victories  at  sea  were  gained  in 
spite  of  great  disadvantages  involved  in  the  English  mode  of  naval  warfare, 
for  while  the  English  ships,  according  to  the  French  herald,  were  only  armed 
with  archers  using  the  long-bow,  who  fought  on  the  upper  deck  where  they 
were  exposed  to  great  danger  from  the  enemy,  the  French  cross-bowmen 
could  shoot  under  cover  from  the  forecastle  or  stern-castle  of  their  ships. 

TILTING  ON  THE  WATER,  EARLY  FOURTEENTH  CENTURY  (MS.  Roy.  2  B.  vii.)    441 

ENGLISH  SOLDIERS  SCALING  A  FORTRESS  IN  GASCONY,  TEMP.  EDWARD  III.  .    .     442 

From  MS.  Roy.  140.  iv.  (British  Museum),  a  copy  of  Froissart's  Chronicle 
written  in  Flanders  early  in  the  fourteenth  century. 

MAP  OF  FRANCE  AT  TREATY  OF  BRETIGNY To  face  p.  444 

THE  HOUSE  OF  LORDS  UNDER  EDWARD  1 445 

From  an  engraving  in  Pinkerton's  "  Iconographia  Scotica  "  of  a  drawing  for- 
merly in  the  College  of  Arms,  London.  This  drawing  dates  from  the  reign  of 
Edward  IV.,  and  represents  the  House  of  Peers  as  it  was  then  supposed  to 
have  sat  in  1274,  the  only  year  of  Edward  I.'s  reign  when  it  was  attended  both 
by  the  King  of  Scots  and  by  the  Prince  of  Wales.  The  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury sits  on  the  right  of  Alexander  of  Scotland,  the  Archbishop  of  York  on 
the  left  of  Llewelyn  of  Wales  ;  the  clerk  behind  Alexander  holds  the  deed  of 
homage  for  the  Scot  king's  English  lands ;  the  two  clerks  behind  Llewelyn 
are  probably  papal  envoys.  The  outer  row  of  mitred  figures  on  the  left  are 
nineteen  mitred  abbots  ;  the  inner  row,  and  two  figures  just  below  the  Arch- 
bishop of  York,  are  eight  bishops.  Twenty  lay  peers  sit  on  the  right ;  the 
chancellor  and  judges  on  the  woolsack  in  the  middle.  The  meaning  of  the 
crowned  figure  just  below  Llewelyn  is  unknown. 

BRASS  OF  SIR  ROBERT  ATTETYE,  c.  iT,%o(SuekIing,  "  History  of  Suffolk")      .      446 
In  Barsham  church,  Suffolk.     Shows  a  knight  of  the  time  in  his  armour. 

BRASSE  OF  ROBERT  ATTELATHE,  MAYOR  OF  LYNN 447 

This  figure  is  given  to  show  the  burgher  in  his  robes  of  office.  Robert 
Attelathe  was  Mayor  of  Lynn  in  1374  and  died  in  1376.  The  brass  on  his 
tomb,  formerly  in  S.  Margaret's  Church,  Lynn,  is  here  copied  from  W.  Taylor's 
"  Antiquities  of  Lynn." 


xxvi  NOTES   ON   THE   ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

CROZIER  OF. WILLIAM  OF  WYKKIIAM 449 

Bequeathed  by  him  to  New  College,  Oxford  (which  he  founded),  and  now 
in  the  chapel ;  here  reproduced  from  a  photograph. 

EFFIGY  OF  WILLIAM  OF  WYKEHAM,   ON   HIS  TOMB  (Briiton,   "  Winchester 

Cathedral") 450 

JOHN  WYCLIF 453 

From  a  portrait  at  Knole. 

A  POPE  IN  CONSISTORY,  EARLY  FOURTEENTH  CENTURY 454 

From  MS.  Add.  23923  (British  Museum),  the  Decretals  of  Boniface  VIII., 
who  died  in  1303. 

RIDING  TO  A  TOURNAMENT  .  } 

\  •  457 
A  TOURNAMENT  ) 

These  two  scenes  are  from  MS.  Roy.  19  C.  i.  {British  Museum)  "  Li  Breviari 
d' Amors,"  written  in  the  South  of  France  in  the  fourteenth  century.  The 
first  illustrates  the  description  in  the  text,  of  the  ladies  in  male  apparel  riding 
to  the  place  of  tourney  ;  the  second  pictures  the  tournament  itself;  and  the 
artist  has  added  a  significant  comment  in  the  figures  of  the  demons  blowing 
their  trumpets  to  greet  the  ladies,  and  directing  the  blows  of  the  knights. 

TOMB  OF  ARCHBISHOP  PECKHAM  (Brit'on,  "  Canterbury  Cathedral") 458 

A  fine  example  of  English  art,  A.D.  1313. 

HALL  OF  MAYFIELD  PALACE,  SUSSEX 459 

Mayfield  was  a  manor-house  of  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury,  and  the  great 
hall  was  built  by  Archbishop  Islip,  c.  1350.  It  is  here  figured  from  a  drawing 
made  in  1783  by  S.  H.  Grimm  (MS.  Add.  Burrell  5671,  British  Museum) ; 
since  then  it  has  been  restored  and  is  now  a  Roman  Catholic  church.  The 
back  of  the  Archbishop's  chair,  of  stone  carved  with  a  diaper  pattern,  still 
remains  against  the  eastern  wall. 

GATEWAY  OF  THORNTON  ABBEY,  LINCOLNSHIRE f 462 

An  early  example  of  a  brick  building  with  stone  dressings  ;*  built  soon 
after  1382. 

PREACHING  IN  THE  OPEN-AIR,  1338 — ^4  (MS.  Bodl.  Misc.  264) 464 

From  pulpits  such  as  this  Wyclifs  "poor  preachers"  must  have  addressed 
such  groups  as  the  one  depicted  here. 

NEW  COLLEGE,  OXFORD,  AND  ITS  HUNDRED  CLERKS 467 

From  MS.  New  College,  Oxford,  cclxxxviii.,  a  panegyric  on  William  of 
Wykeham  by  Thomas  Chandler,  Warden  of  Winchester  College  1450—3  of 
New  College  1453 — 4,  and  Canon  and  Chancellor  of  Wells  1454 — 1481  ; 
presented  by  him  to  Thomas  Bekynton,  Bishop  of  Wells  1443 — 1465,  who 
bequeathed  it  to  New  College,  of  which  he  too  had  been  a  member.  The 
picture  represents  the  College  and  a  hundred  of  its  most  distinguished  scholars, 
among  whom  are  William  of  Wykeham,  Archbishops  Chichele  and  Wayn- 
flete  of  Canterbury  and  Cranley  of  Dublin,  Bekynton,  and  Chandler 
himself. 


S.    MATTHEW 
From  the  Book  of  Kelts,  A.D.  650-690 


A    SHORT    HISTORY 


OF 


THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 

CHAPTER    I 

THE    ENGLISH   KINGDOMS,    607—1013 
Section  I. — Britain  and  the  English 

[Authorities. — For  the  constitution  and  settlement  of  the  English,  see 
Kemble's  "Saxons  in  England"  and  especial. y  the  "Constitutional  History  of 
England"  by  Dr.  Stv.bbs.  Sir  Francis  Palgravc's  History  of  the  English 
Commonwealth  is  valuable,  but  to  be  used  with  care.  A  vigorous  and  accurate 
sketch  of  the  early  constitution  may  be  found  in  Mr.  Freeman's  History  of 
the  Norman  Conquest,  vol.  i.  See  also  "  The  Making  of  England  "  and  "  The 
Conquest  of  England  "  by  J.  R.  Green.] 

FOR  the  fatherland  of  the  English  race  we  must  look  far  old 
away  from  England  itself.  In  the  fifth  century  after  the  birth  of  En&land 
Christ,  the  one  country  which  we  know  to  have  borne  the  name 
of  Angeln  or  the  Engleland  lay  in  the  district  which  we  now 
call  Sleswick,  a  district  in  the  heart  of  the  peninsula  which  parts  the 
Baltic  from  the  northern  seas.  Its  pleasant  pastures,  its  black- 
timbered  homesteads,  its  prim  little  townships  looking  down  on 
inlets  of  purple  water,  were  then  but  a  wild  waste  of  heather  and 
sand,  girt  along  the  coast  with  sunless  woodland,  broken  here  and 
there  by  meadows  which  crept  down  to  the  marshes  and  the  sea. 
The  dwellers  in  this  district,  however,  seem  to  have  been  merely 
an  outlying  fragment  of  what  was  called  the  Engle  or  English 
VOL.  I— i 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SBC  I 
BRITAIN 

AND   THE 

ENGLISH 


The 

English 
People 


folk,  the  bulk  of  whom  lay  probably  along  the  middle  Elbe  and 
on  the  Weser.  To  the  north  of  the  English  in  their  Sleswick 
home  lay  another  kindred  tribe,  the  Jutes,  whose  name  is  still  pre- 
served in  their  district  of  Jutland.  To  the  south  of  them  a  number 
of  German  tribes  had  drawn  together  in  their  home-land  between 
the  Elbe  and  the  Ems,  and  in  a  wide  tract  across  the  Ems  to  the 
Rhine,  into  the  people  of  the  Saxons.  Engle,  Saxon,  and  Jute  all 
belonged  to  the  same  Low  German  branch  of  the  Teutonic  family; 
and  at  the  moment  when  history  discovers  them,  they  were  being 
drawn  together  by  the  ties  of  a  common  blood,  common  speech, 
common  social  and  political  institutions.  Each  of  them  was  des- 
tined to  share  in  the  conquest  of  the  land  in  which  we  live  ;  and 
it  is  from  the  union  of  all  of  them  when  its  conquest  was 
complete  that  the  English  people  has  sprung. 

Of  the  temper  and  life  of  the  folk  in  this  older  England  we 
know  little.  But,  from  the  glimpses  which  we  catch  of  them 
when  conquest  had 
brought  them  to  the 
shores  of  Britain, 
their  political  and 
social  organization 
must  have  been 
that  of  the  Ger- 
man race  to  which 
they  belonged.  The 
basis  of  their  so- 
ciety was  the  free 
man.  He  alone 
was  known  as  "  the 
man,"  or  "  the 
churl ; "  and  two 
phrases  set  his  free- 
dom vividly  before 
us.  He  was  "the 
free-necked  man," 

whose  long  hair  floated  over  a  neck  that  had  never  bent  to  a 
lord.  He  was  "  the  weaponed  man,"  who  alone  bore  spear  and 
sword,  for  he  alone  possessed  the  right  which  in  such  a  state 


SHIELD,    BEFORE   A.D.    450. 

Jutish  or  Danish. 
Wersaae,  *l  Industrial  Arts  of  Denmark." 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS 


of  society  formed  the  main  check  upon  lawless  outrage,  the  right 
of  private  war.  Among  the  English,  as  among  all  the  races  of 
mankind,  justice  had  originally  sprung  from  each  man's  personal 
action.  There  had  been  a  time  when  every  freeman  was  his  own 
avenger.  But  even  in  the  earliest  forms  of  English  society  of 
which  we  catch  traces  this  right  of  self-defence  was  being  modified 
and  restricted  by  a  growing  sense  of  public  justice.  The  "  blood- 
wite,"  or  compensation  in  money  for  personal  wrong,  was  the  first 


SEC.  I 

BRITAIN 
AND  THK 
ENGLISH 


MAILCOAT,  BEFORE  A.D.    450. 

Jutish  or  Danish. 
H'prsaae,  "  Industrial  A  rts  of  Denmark. " 


SILVER   HELMET,  BEFORE  A.D.  450. 

Jutish  or  Danish. 
Worsaat,  "  Industrial  A  rts  of  Denmark  " 


effort  of  the  tribe  as  a  whole  to  regulate  private  revenge.  The  free- 
man's life  and  the  freeman's  limb  had  each  on  this  system  its 
legal  price.  "  Eye  for  eye,"  ran  the  rough  customary  code,  and  "  limb 
for  limb,"  or  for  each  fair  damages.  We  see  a  further  step  towards 
the  recognition  of  a  wrong  a^  done  not  to  the  individual  man,  but 
to- the  people  at  large,  in  another  custom  of  early  date.  The  price  of 
life  or  limb  was  paid,  not  by  the  wrong-doer  to  the  man  he  wronged, 
but  by  the  family  or  house  of  the  wrong-doer  to  the  family  or 
house  of  the  wronged.  Order  and  law  were  thus  made  to  rest  in 
each  little  group  of  English  people  upon  the  blood-bond  which  knit 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  I 

BRITAIN 
AND  THE 

ENGLISH 


The 
English 
Society 


its  families  together ;  every  outrage  was  held  to  have  been  done  by 
all  who  were  linked  by  blood  to  the  doer  of  it,  every  crime  to  have 
been  done  against  all  who  were  linked  by  blood  to  the  sufferer 
from  it.  From  this  sense  of  the  value  of  the  family  bond,  as  a 
means  of  restraining  the  wrong-doer  by  forces  which  the  tribe 
as  a  whole  did  not  as  yet  possess,  sprang  the  first  rude  forms  of 
English  justice.  Each  kinsman  was  his  kinsman's  keeper,  bound  to 
protect  him  from  wrong,  to  hinder  him  from  wrong-doing,  and  to 
suffer  with  and  pay  for  him,  if  wrong  were  done.  So  fully  was  this 
principle  recognized  that,  even  if 
any  man  was  charged  before  his 
fellow-tribesmen  with  crime,  his 
kinsfolk  still  remained  in  fact  his 
sole  judges  ;  for  it  was  by  their 
solemn  oath  of  his  innocence  or 
his  guilt  that  he  had  to  stand 
or  fall. 

The  blood-bond  gave  both 
its  military  and  social  form  to 
Old  English  society.  Kinsmen 
fought  side  by  side  in  the  hour 
of  battle,  and  the  feelings  of 
ho. i our  and  discipline  which  held 
the  host  together  were  drawn 
from  the  common  duty  of  every 
man  in  each  little  group  of  war- 
riors to  his  house.  And  as  they 

fought  side  by  side  on  the  field,  so  they  dwelled  side  by  side  on 
the  soil.  Harling  abode  by  Harling,  and  Billing  by  Billing  ;  and 
each  "  wick  "  or  "  ham  "  or  "  stead  "  or  "  tun  "  took  its  name  from 
the  kinsmen  who  dwelt  together  in  it.  The  home  or  "  ham  "  of  the 
Billings  would  be  Billingham,  and  the  "  tun  "  or  township  of  the 
Harlings  would  be  Harlington.  But  in  such  settlements,  the  tie 
of  blood  was  widened  into  the  larger  tie  of  land.  Land  with  the 
German  race  seems  at  a  very  early  time  to  have  become  the  accom- 
paniment of  full  freedom.  The  freeman  was  strictly  the  freeholder, 
and  the  exercise  of  his  full  rights  as  a  free  member  of  the  community 
to  which  he  belonged  was  inseparable  from  the  possession  of  his 


PART  OF  A  HELMET,  IRON  OVERLAID 
WITH  BRONZE,  REPRESENTING  A 
NORTHERN  WARRIOR. 

Montelins,  "  Early  Civilization  in  Sweden." 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS 


SILVER    CUP. 

Danish. 

Monte  I  ins,  "Early  Civilization  in 
Sweden." 


"  holding."    The  landless  man  ceased  for  all  practical  purposes  to  be 

free,  though  he  was  no  man's 
slave.  In  the  very  earliest 
glimpse  we  get  of  the  German 
race  we  see  them  a  race  of  land- 
holders and  land-tillers.  Tacitus, 
the  first  Roman  who  sought  to 
know  these  destined  conquerors 
of  Rome,  describes  them  as 
pasturing  on  the  forest  glades 
around  their  villages,  and  plough- 
ing their  village  fields.  A  feature 
which  at  once  struck  him  as 
parting  them  from  the  civilized 
world  to  which  he  himself  be- 
longed, was  their  hatred  of  cities, 
and  their  love  even  within  their 
little  settlements  of  a  jealous  in- 
dependence. "  They  live  apart,"  he  says,  "  each  by  himself,  as 
woodside,  plain,  or  fresh  spring  attracts  him."  And  as  each  dweller 
within  the  settlement  was  jeal- 
ous of  his  own  isolation  and 
independence  among  his  fellow 
settlers,  so  each  settlement  was 
jealous  of  its  independence 
among  its  fellow  settlements.  Of 
the  character  of  their  life  in  this 
early  world,  however,  we  know 
little  save  what  may  be  gathered 
from  the  indications  of  a  later 
time.  Each  little  farmer  com- 
monwealth was  girt  in  by  its 
own  border  or  "  mark,"  a  belt 
of  forest  or  waste  or  fen  which 
parted  it  from  its  fellow  vil- 
lages, a  ring  of  common  ground 

which  none  of  its  settlers  might  take  for  his  own,  but  which  some- 
times served  as  a  death-ground  where  criminals  met  their  doom, 


SEC.  I 

BRITAIN 
AND  THB 
ENGLISH 


EARTHENWARE   EWER. 

Scandinavian. 

Montelius,  "Early  Civilization  in 
Sweden." 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  I 
BRITAIN 

AND   THE 

ENGLISH 


and  was  held  to  be  the  special  dwelling-place  of  the  nixie  and  the 
will-o'-the-wisp.  If  a  stranger  came  through  this  wood,  or  over 
this  waste,  custom  bade  him  blow  his  horn  as  he  came,  for  if  he 
stole  through  secretly  he  was  taken  for  a  foe,  and  any  man  might 
lawfully  slay  him.  Inside  this 
boundary  the  "  township,"  as  the 
village  was  then  called  from  the 
"  tun  "  or  rough  fence  and  trench 
that  served  as  its  simple  fortifi- 
cation, formed  a  ready-made 
fortress  in  war,  while  in  peace  its 
entrenchments  were  serviceable 
in  the  feuds  of  village  with  vil- 
lage, or  house  with  house.  With- 
in the  village  we  find  from  the 
first  a  marked  social  difference 
between  two  orders  of  its  in- 
dwellers.  The  bulk  of  its  home- 
steads were  those  of  its  freemen 
or  "  ceorls  ; "  but  amongst  these 
were  the  larger  homes  of  "  eorls," 
or  men  distinguished  among 
their  fellows  by  noble  blood, 
who  were  held  in  an  hereditary 
reverence,  and  from  whom  the 
leaders  of  the  village  were  chosen 
in  war  time,  or  rulers  in  time 
of  peace.  But  the  choice  was 
a  purely  voluntary  one,  and  the 
man  of  noble  blood  enjoyed  no 
legal  privilege  among  his  fellows. 
The  holdings  of  the  freemen 
clustered  round  a  moot-hill  or 
sacred  tree  where  the  com- 
munity met  from  time  to  time  to  order  its  own  industry  and  to 
frame  its  own  laws.  Here  plough-land  and  meadow-land  were 
shared  in  due  lot  among  the  villagers,  and  field  and  homestead 
passed  from  man  to  man.  Here  strife  of  farmer  with  farmer  was 


HORNS,     FIFTH     CENTURY,     FOUND     AT 

GALLEHUS,    NORTH    JUTLAND. 
ffersaae,  "  Industrial  Arts  of  Denmark." 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS 


settled  according  to  the  "  customs  "  of  the  township  as  its  "  elder       SEC.  i 
men  "  stated  them,  and  the  wrong-doer  was  judged  and  his  fine      BRITAIN 

AND   TUB 

assessed  by  the  kinsfolk  ;  and  here  men  were  chosen  to  follow  ENGLISH 
headman  or  ealdorman  to  hundred  court  or  war.  It  is  with  a 
reverence  such  as  is  stirred  by  the  sight  of  the  head-waters  of  some 
mighty  river  that  one  looks  back  to  these  tiny  moots,  where  the 
men  of  the  village  met  to  order  the  village  life  and  the  village 
industry,  as  their  descendants,  the  men  of  a  later  England,  meet 
in  Parliament  at  Westminster,  to  frame  laws  and  do  justice  for  the 
great  empire  which  has  sprung  from  this  little  body  of  farmer- 
commonwealths  in  Sleswick. 

The  religion  of  the  English  was  the  same  as  that  of  the  whole  The 
German  family.  Christianity,  which  had  by  this  time  brought 
about  the  conversion  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
had  not  penetrated  as  yet  among  the  forests 
of  the  North.  Our  own  names  for  the  days 
of  the  week  still  recall  to  us  the  gods  whom 
our  fathers  worshipped.  Wednesday  is  the 
day  of  Woden,  the  war-god,  the  guardian  of 
ways  and  boundaries,  the  inventor  of  letters, 
the  common  god  of  the  whole  conquering 
people,  whom  every  tribe  held  to  be  the  first 
ancestor  of  its  kings.  Thursday  is  the  day 
HEAD  OF  THUNDER.  of  Thunder,  or,  as  the  Northmen  called  him, 

Stephens,  "  Thunor  the  „,  i        r       •  j  i 

Thunderer."  I  hor,  the  god  of  air  and  storm  and  ram  ;  as 

Friday  is  Frea's-day,  the  god  of  peace  and  joy 

and  fruitfulness,  whose  emblems,  borne  aloft  by  dancing  maidens, 
brought  increase  to  every  field  and  stall  they  visited.  Saturday 
may  commemorate  an  obscure  god  Saetere  ;  Tuesday  the  dark  gods 
Tiw,  to  meet  whom  was  death.  Behind  these  floated  dim  shapes 
of  an  older  mythology  ;  Eostre,  the  goddess  of  the  dawn,  or  of 
the  spring,  who  lends  her  name  to  the  Christian  festival  of  the 
Resurrection  ;  "  Wyrd,"  the  death-goddess,  whose  memory  lingered 
long  in  the  "  weird  "  of  northern  superstition  ;  or  the  Shield-Maidens, 
the  "  mighty  women  "  who,  an  old  rime  tells  us,  "  wrought  on  the 
battle-field  their  toil,  and  hurled  the  thrilling  javelins."  Nearer  to 
the  popular  fancy  lay  deities  of  wood  and  fell,  or  the  hero-gods  of 
legend  and  song  ;  "  Nicor,"  the  water-sprite,  who  gave  us  our  water- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  I 

BRITAIN 
AND  THE 
ENGLISH 


nixies  and  "  Old  Nick  "  ;  "  Weland,"  the  forger  of  mighty  shields 
and  sharp-biting  swords,  whose  memory  lingers  in  the  stories  of 
"  Weyland's  Smithy  "  in  Berkshire ;  while  the  name  of  Ailesbury 
may  preserve  the  last  trace  of  the  legend  of  Weland's  brother, 
the  sun-archer  ^Egil.  But  it  is  only  in  broken  fragments  that  this 
mass  of  early  faith  and  early  poetry  still  lives  for  us,  in  a  name,  in 
the  grey  stones  of  a  cairn,  or  in  snatches  of  our  older  song ;  and 


BRACTEATES    REPRESENTING    NORTHERN    DIVINITIES. 

Worsaae,   "  Industrial  Arts  of  Denmark." 


the  faint  traces  of  worship  or  of  priesthood  which  we  find  in  later 
history  show  how  lightly  it  clung  to  the  national  life. 

Britain  From  Sleswick  and  the  shores  of  the  Northern  Sea  we  must 

pass,  before  opening  our  story,  to  a  land  which,  dear  as  it  is  now 
to  Englishmen,  had  not  as  yet  been  trodden  by  English  feet. 
The  island  of  Britain  had  for  nearly  four  hundred  years  been  a 
province  of  the  Empire.  A  descent  of  Julius  Caesar  revealed  it 
(B.C.  55)  to  the  Roman  world,  but  nearly  a  century  elapsed  before 
the  Emperor  Claudius  attempted  its  definite  conquest.  The  vic- 
tories of  Julius  Agricola  (A.D.  78 — 84)  carried  the  Roman  frontier 
to  the  P'irths  of  Forth  and  of  Clyde,  and  the  work  of  Roman  civili- 
zation followed  hard  upon  the  Roman  sword.  Population  was 
grouped  in  cities  such  as  York  or  Lincoln,  cities  governed  by  their 
own  municipal  officers,  guarded  by  massive  walls,  and  linked 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS 


together  by  a  network  of  roads,  which  extended  from  one  end  of      SEC.  i 
the  island  to  the  other.    Commerce  sprang  up  in  ports  like  that  of     BRITAIN 

AND   THF 

London  ;  agriculture  flourished  till  Britain  was  able  at  need  to  ENGLISH 
supply  the  necessities  of  Gaul ;  its  mineral  resources  were  explored 
in  the  tin  mines  of  Cornwall,  the  lead  mines  of  Somerset  and 
Northumberland,  and  the  iron  mines  of  the  Forest  of  Dean. 
The  wealth  of  the  island  grew  fast  during  centuries  of  unbroken 
peace,  but  the "  evils  which  were  slowly  sapping  the  strength  of 
the  Roman  Empire  at  large  must  have  told  heavily  on  the  real 
wealth  of  the  province  of  Britain.  Here,  as  in  Italy  or  Gaul,  the 
population  probably  declined  as  the  estates  of  the  landed  pro- 
prietors grew  larger,  and  the  cultivators  sank  into  serfs  whose 
cabins  clustered  round  the  luxurious  villas  of  their  lords.  The 
mines,  if  worked  by  forced  labour,  must  have  been  a  source  of 
endless  oppression.  Town  and  country  were  alike  crushed  by  heavy 
taxation,  while  industry  was  fettered  by  laws  that  turned  every 
trade  into  an  hereditary  caste.  Above  all,  the  purely  despotic 
system  of  the  Roman  Government,  by  crushing  all  local  indepen- 
dence, crushed  all  local  vigour.  Men  forgot  how  to  fight  for  their 
country  when  they  forgot  how  to  govern  it. 

Such  causes  of  decay  were  common  to  every  province  of  the 
Empire  ;  but  there  were  others  that  sprang  from  the  peculiar 
circumstances  of  Britain  itself.  The  island  was  weakened  by  a 
disunion  within,  which  arose  from  the  partial  character  of  its 
civilization.  It  was  only  in  the  towns  that  the  conquered  Britons 
became  entirely  Romanized.  Over  large  tracts  of  country  the 
rural  Britons  seem  to  have  remained  apart,  speaking  their  own 
tongue,  owning  some  traditional  allegiance  to  their  native  chiefs, 
and  even  retaining  their  native  laws.  The  use  of  the  Roman 
language  may  be  taken  as  marking  the  progress  of  Roman  civili- 
zation, and  though  Latin  had  wholly  superseded  the  language  of 
the  conquered  peoples  in  Spain  or  Gaul,  its  use  seems  to  have 
been  confined  in  Britain  to  the  townsfolk  and  the  wealthier  land- 
owners without  the  towns.  The  dangers  that  sprang  from  such  a 
severance  between  the  two  elements  of  the  population  must  have 
been  stirred  into  active  life  by  the  danger  which  threatened  Britain 
from  the  North.  The  Picts  who  had  been  sheltered  from  Roman 
conquest  by  the  fastnesses  of  the  Highlands  were  roused  in  their 


io  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE          CHAP,  i 

SEC.  i       turn  to  attack  by  the  weakness  of  the  province  and  the  hope  of 
BRITAIN     plunder.    Their  invasions  penetrated  to  the   heart   of  the   island. 

AND   THE 

ENGLISH  Raids  so  extensive  could  hardly  have  been  effected  without  help 
from  within,  and  the  dim  history  of  the  time  allows  us  to  see 
not  merely  an  increase  of  disunion  between  the  Romanized  and 
un-Romanized  population  of  Britain,  but  even  an  alliance  between 
the  last  and  their  free  kinsfolk,  the  Picts.  The  struggles  of  Britain, 
however,  lingered  on  till  dangers  nearer  home  forced  the  Empire 
to  recall  its  legions  and  leave  the  province  to  itself.  Ever  since 
the  birth  of  Christ  the  countries  which  lay  round  the  Mediterranean 
Sea,  and  which  then  comprehended  the  whole  of  the  civilized  world, 
had  rested  in  peace  beneath  the  rule  of  Rome.  During  four  hundred 
years  its  frontier  had  held  at  bay  the  barbarian  world  without — 
the  Parthian  of  the  Euphrates,  the  Numidian  of  the  African  desert, 
the  German  of  the  Danube  or  the  Rhine.  It  was  this  mass  of 
savage  barbarism  that  at  last  broke  in  on  the  Empire  as  it  sank 
into  decay.  In  the  western  dominions  of  Rome  the  triumph  of 
the  invaders  was  complete.  The  Franks  conquered  and  colonized 
Gaul.  The  West-Goths  conquered  and  colonized  Spain.  The 
Vandals  founded  a  kingdom  in  Africa.  The  Burgundians  encamped 
in  the  border-land  between  Italy  and  the  Rhone.  The  East-Goths 
ruled  at  last  in  Italy  itself.  And  now  that  the  fated  hour  was  come, 
the  Saxon  and  the  Engle  too  closed  upon  their  prey. 

Britain  It  was  to  defend  Italy  against  the  Goths  that   Rome   in  410 

English  ^called  her  legions  from  Britain.  The  province,  thus  left  unaided, 
seems  to  have  fought  bravely  against  its  assailants,  and  once  at 
least  to  have  driven  back  the  Picts  to  their  mountains  in  a  rising 
of  despair.  But  the  threat  of  fresh  inroads  found  Britain  torn 
with  civil  quarrels  which  made  a  united  resistance  impossible, 
while  its  Pictish  enemies  strengthened  themselves  by  a  league 
with  marauders  from  Ireland  (Scots  as  they  were  then  called), 
whose  pirate-boats  were  harrying  the  western  coast  of  the  island, 
and  with  a  yet  more  formidable  race  of  pirates  who  had  long  been 
pillaging  along  the  British  Channel.  These  were  the  English.  We 
do  not  know  whether  it  was  the  pressure  of  other  tribes  or  the 
example  of  their  German  brethren  who  were  now  moving  in  a 
general  attack  on  the  Empire  from  their  forest  homes,  or  simply 
the  barrenness  of  their  coast,  which  drove  the  hunters,  farmers, 


£S 

j):    — 


13 

' 


12 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  I 

BRITAIN 
AND  THE 
ENGLISH 


fishermen,  of  the  English  tribes  to  sea.  But  the  daring  spirit 
of  their  race  already  broke  out  in  the  secresy  and  suddenness  of 
their  swoop,  in  the  fierceness  of  their  onset,  in  the  careless  glee 
with  which  they  seized  either  sword  or  oar.  "  Foes  are  they," 
sang  a  Roman  poet  of  the  time,  "  fierce  beyond  other  foes,  and 
cunning  as  they  are  fierce  ;  the  sea  is  their  school  of  war,  and  the 
storm  their  friend  ;  they  are  sea-wolves  that  live  on  the  pillage  of 
the  world."  To  meet  the  league  of  Pict,  Scot,  and  Saxon  by  the 
forces  of  the  province  itself  became  impossible  ;  and  the  one  course 
left  was  to  imitate  the  fatal  policy  by  which  the  Empire  had  invited 
its  own  doom  while  striving  to  avert  it,  the  policy  of  matching 
barbarian  against  barbarian.  The  rulers  of  Britain  resolved  to  break 
the  league  by  detaching  from  it  the  freebooters  who  were  harrying 
her  eastern  coast,  and  to  use  their  new  allies  against  the  Pict. 
By  the  usual  promises  of  land  and  pay,  a  band  of  warriors  from 
Jutland  were  drawn  for  this  purpose  in  449  to  the  shores  of  Britain, 
with  their  chiefs,  Hengest  and  Horsa,  at  their  head. 


Section  II. — The  English  Conquest.     449 — 577 

[Authorities  for  the  Conquest  of  Britain. — The  only  extant  British  account 
is  that  of  the  monk  Gildas,  diffuse  and  inflated,  but  valuable  as  the  one  authority 
for  the  state  of  the  island  at  the  time,  and  as  giving,  in  the  conclusion  of  his 
work,  the  native  story  of  the  conquest  of  Kent.  I  have  examined  his  general 
character,  and  the  objections  to  his  authenticity,  &c.,  in  two  papers  in  the 
Saturday  Review  for  April  24  and  May  8,  1869.  The  Conquest  of  Kent  is  the 
only  one  of  which  we  have  any  record  from  the  side  of  the  conquered.  The 
English  conquerors  have  left  brief  jottings  of  the  conquest  of  Kent,  Sussex,  and 
Wessex,  in  the  curious  annals  which  form  the  opening  of  the  compilation  now 
known  as  the  "  English  Chronicle."  They  are  undoubtedly  historic,  though 
with  a  slight  mythical  intermixture.  We  possess  no  materials  for  the  history 
of  the  English  in  their  invasion  of  Mid-Britain  or  Mercia,  and  a  fragment  of 
the  annals  of  Northumbria  embodied  in  the  later  compilation  which  bears 
the  name  of  Nennius  alone  throws  light  upon  their  actions  in  the  North.  Dr. 
Guest's  papers  in  the  "  Origines  Celticae  "  are  the  best  modern  narratives  of  the 
conquest.]  (The  story  has  since  been  told  by  Mr.  Green  in  "  The  Making  of 
England.") 

The  It  is  with  the  landing  of  Hengest  and  his  war-band  at  Ebbsfleet 

m1S      on  tne  shores  of  the  Isle  of  Thanet  that  English  history  begins. 

Thanet    NO  SpOt  jn  Britain  can  be  so  sacred  to  Englishmen  as  that  which 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS 


577 


first  felt  the  tread  of  English  feet.    There  is  little  indeed  to  catch      SEC.  n 
the  eye  in  Ebbsfleet  itself,  a  mere  lift  of  higher  ground,  with  a  few        THE 

ENGLISH 

grey  cottages  dotted  over  it,  cut  off"  nowadays  from  the  sea  by  a    CONQUEST 

449 
reclaimed  meadow  and  a  sea-wall.    But  taken  as  a  whole,  the  scene         TO 

has  a  wild  beauty  of  its  own.  To  the  right  the  white  curve  of 
Ramsgate  cliffs  looks  down  on  the  crescent  of  Pegwell  Bay  ;  far 
away  to  the  left,  across  grey  marsh-levels,  where  smoke-wreaths 
mark  the  sites  of  Richborough  and  Sandwich,  the  coast-line  bends 
dimly  to  the  fresh  rise  of  cliffs  beyond  Deal.  Everything  in  the 
character  of  the  ground  confirms  the  national  tradition  which 
fixed  here  the  first  landing-place  of  our  English  fathers,  for  great 


as  the  physical  changes  of  the  country  have  been  since  the  fifth 
century,  they  have  told  little  on  its  main  features.  It  is  easy  to 
discover  in  the  misty  level  of  the  present  Minster  marsh  what  was 
once  a  broad  inlet  of  sea  parting  Thanet  from  the  mainland  of 
Britain,  through  which  the  pirate-boats  of  the  first  Englishmen 
came  sailing  with  a  fair  wind  to  the  little  gravel-spit  of  Ebbsfleet ; 
and  Richborough,  a  fortress  whose  broken  ramparts  still  rise  above 
the  grey  flats  which  have  taken  the  place  of  this  older  sea-channel, 
was  the  common  landing-place  of  travellers  from  Gaul.  If  the 
war-ships  of  the  pirates  therefore  were  cruising  off  the  coast  at 
the  moment  when  the  bargain  with  the  Britons  was  concluded, 
their  disembarkation  at  Ebbsfleet  almost  beneath  the  walls  of 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  II 

THE 

ENGLISH 
CONQUEST 

449 

TO 

577 


Richborough  would  be  natural  enough.  But  the  after-current  of 
events  serves  to  show  that  the  choice  of  this  landing-place  was  the 
result  of  a  settled  design.  Between  the  Briton  and  his  hireling 
soldiers  there  could  be  little  trust.  Quarters  in  Thanet  would  satisfy 
the  followers  of  Hengest,  who  still  lay  in  sight  of  their  fellow-pirates 
in  the  Channel,  and  who  felt  themselves  secured  against  the  treachery 
which  had  so  often  proved  fatal  to  the  barbarian  by  the  broad  inlet 
which  parted  their  camp  from  the  mainland.  Nor  was  the  choice 
less  satisfactory  to  the  provincial,  trembling — and,  as  the  event 
proved,  justly  trembling — lest  in  his  zeal  against  the  Pict  he  had 


RICHBOROUGH. 


The 
English 
Attack 


introduced  an  even  fiercer  foe  into  Britain.  His  dangerous  allies 
were  cooped  up  in  a  corner  of  the  land,  and  parted  from  it  by  a 
sea-channel  which  was  guarded  by  the  strongest  fortresses  of  the 
coast. 

The  need  of  such  precautions  was  seen  in  the  disputes  which 
arose  as  soon  as  the  work  for  which  the  mercenaries  had  been 
hired  was  done.  The  Picts  were  hardly  scattered  to  the  winds  in  a 
great  battle  when  danger  came  from  the  Jutes  themselves.  Their 
numbers  probably  grew  fast  as  the  news  of  the  settlement  spread 
among  the  pirates  in  the  Channel,  and  with  the  increase  of  their 
number  must  have  grown  the  difficulty  of  supplying  rations  and 
pay.  The  dispute  which  rose  over  these  questions  was  at  last 


i  THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS  15 

closed  by  Hengest's  men  with  a  threat  of  war.    The  threat,  how-      SEC.  n 
ever,  as  we  have  seen,  was  no  easy  one  to  carry  out.    Right  across        T«B 

ENGLISH 

their  path  in  any  attack  upon  Britain  stretched  the  inlet  of  sea  that    CONQUEST 
parted  Thanet  from  the  mainland,  a  strait  which  was  then  travers-         TO 

"577 

able  only  at  low  water  by  a  long  and  dangerous  ford,  and  guarded  — — 
at  either  mouth  by  the  fortresses  of  Richborough  and  Reculver. 
The  channel  of  the  Medway,  with  the  forest  of  the  Weald  bending 
round  it  from  the  south,  furnished  another  line  of  defence  in  the 
rear,  while  strongholds  on  the  sites  of  our  Canterbury  and  Rochester 
guarded  the  road  to  London  ;  and  all  around  lay  the  soldiers  placed 
at  the  command  of  the  Count  of  the  Saxon  Shore,  to  hold  the 
coast  against  the  barbarian.  Great  however  as  these  difficulties 
were,  they  failed  to  check  the  sudden  onset  of  the  Jutes.  The 
inlet  seems  to  have  been  crossed,  the  coast-road  to  London  seized, 
before  any  force  could  be  collected  to  oppose  the  English  advance  ; 
and  it  was  only  when  they  passed  the  Swale  and  looked  to  their 
right  over  the  potteries  whose  refuse  still  strews  the  mudbanks 
of  Upchurch,  that  their  march  seems  to  have  swerved  abruptly  to 
the  south.  The  guarded  walls  of  Rochester  probably  forced  them  to 
turn  southwards  along  the  ridge  of  low  hills  which  forms  the  east- 
ern boundary  of  the  Medway  valley.  Their  way  led  them  through 
a  district  full  of  memories  of  a  past  which  had  even  then  faded 
from  the  minds  of  men  ;  for  the  hill-slopes  which  they  traversed 
were  the  grave-ground  of  a  vanished  race,  and  scattered  among 
the  boulders  that  strewed  the  ground  rose  the  cromlechs  and  huge 
barrows  of  the  dead.  One  mighty  relic  survives  in  the  monument 
now  called  Kit's  Coty  House,  which  had  been  linked  in  old  days 
by  an  avenue  of  huge  stones  to  a  burial-ground  near  Addington. 
It  was  from  a  steep  knoll  on  which  the  grey  weather-beaten  stones 
of  this  monument  are  reared  that  the  view  of  their  first  battle- 
field would  break  on  the  English  warriors  ;  and  a  lane  which  still 
leads  down  from  it  through  peaceful  'homesteads  would  guide 
them  across  the  ford  which  has  left  its  name  in  the  little  village  of 
Aylesford.  The  Chronicle  of  the  conquering  people  tells  nothing 
of  the  rush  that  may  have  carried  the  ford,  or  of  the  fight  that 
went  struggling  up  through  the  village.  It  only  tells  that  Horsa 
fell  in  the  moment  of  victory ;  and  the  flint-heap  of  Horsted, 
which  has  long  preserved  his  name,  and  was  held  in  after-time 


i6 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  II 

THE 
ENGLISH 
CONQUEST 

449 

TO 

577 

Exter- 
mination 
of  the 
Britons 


to   mark  his  grave,  is  thus  the  earliest  of  those    monuments  of 
English  valour  of  which  Westminster  is  the  last  and  noblest  shrine. 

O 

The  victory  of  Aylesford  did  more  than  give  East  Kent  to  the 
English  ;  it  struck  the  key-note  of  the  whole  English  conquest 
of  Britain.  The  massacre  which  followed  the  battle  indicated  at 
once  the  merciless  nature  of  the  struggle  which  had  begun.  While 
the  wealthier  Kentish  landowners  fled  in  panic  over  sea,  the  poorer 
Britons  took  refuge  in  hill  and  forest  till  hunger  drove  them  from 
their  lurking-places  to  be  cut  down  or  enslaved  by  their  conquerors. 


KIT'S  COTY  HOUSE. 


It  was  in  vain  that  some  sought  shelter  within  the  walls  of  their 
churches  ;  for  the  rage  of  the  English  seems  to  have  burned 
fiercest  against  the  clergy.  The  priests  were  slain  at  the  altar,  the 
churches  fired,  the  peasants  driven  by  the  flames  to  fling  themselves 
on  a  ring  of  pitiless  steel.  It  is  a  picture  such  as  this  which 
distinguishes  the  conquest  of  Britain  from  that  of  the  other 
provinces  of  Rome.  The  conquest  of  Gaul  by  the  Frank,  or  of 
Italy  by  the  Lombard,  proved  little  more  than  a  forcible  settlement 
of  the  one  or  the  other  among  tributary  subjects  who  were  destined 
in  a  long  course  of  ages  to  absorb  their  conquerors.  French  is  the 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS 


tongue,  not  of  the  Frank,  but  of  the  Gaul  whom  he  overcame  ;  and      SEC.  n 
the  fair  hair  of  the  Lombard  is  now  all  but  unknown  in  Lombardy.        THE 
But  the  English  conquest  for  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  was  a  sheer    CONQUEST 
dispossession  and  driving  back  of  the  people  whom  the  English        *2o 
conquered.     In   the  world-wide  struggle  between   Rome  and  the        —L 
German  invaders  no  land  was  so  stubbornly  fought  for  or  so  hardly 
won.     The  conquest  of  Britain  was  indeed  only  partly  wrought  out 
after  two  centuries  of  bitter  warfare.      But  it  was  just  through  the 
long  and  merciless  nature  of  the  struggle  that  of  all  the  German 
conquests  this  proved  the  most  thorough  and  complete.     So  far  as 
the   English   sword  in  these  earlier  days  reached,  Britain  became 
England,  a  land,  that  is,  not  of  Britons,  but  of  Englishmen.     It  is 
possible  that  a  few  of  the  vanquished  people  may  have  lingered  as 
slaves  round  the  homesteads  of  their  English  conquerors,  and  a  few 
of  their  household  words  (if  these  were  not  brought  in  at  a  later 
time)  mingled  oddly  with  the  English  tongue.     But  doubtful  ex- 
ceptions such  as  these  leave  the  main  facts  untouched.     When  the 
steady  progress  of  English  conquest  was  stayed  for  a  while  by  civil 
wars  a  century  and  a  half  after  Aylesford,  the  Briton  had    dis- 
appeared from  half  of  the  land  which  had  been  his  own,  and   the 
tongue,  the    religion,  the  laws  of  his   English  conqueror   reigned 
without  a  rival  from  Essex  to  the  Peak  of  Derbyshire  and  the 
•mouth  of  the  Severn,  and  from  the  British  Channel  to  the  Firth  of 
Forth. 

Aylesford,  however,   was   but    the   first   step  in   this   career  of  Conquest 
conquest.     How  stubborn  the  contest  was  may  be  seen  from  the      Saxon 
fact  that  it  took  sixty  years  to  complete  the  conquest  of  Southern      Shore 
Britain  alone.     It  was  twenty  years  before  Kent  itself  was  won.        4S? 
After  a  second  defeat  at  the  passage  of  the   Cray,  the   Britons 
"  forsook  Kent-land  and  fled  with  much  fear  to  London  ;  "   but  the 
ground  was  soon  won  back  again,  and  it  was  not  until  465  that 
a   series  of  petty  conflicts  made  way  for  a  decisive  struggle   at 
Wippedsfleet.     Here  however  the  overthrow  was  so  terrible  that  all 
hope  of  saving  the  bulk  of  Kent  seems  to  have   been  abandoned, 
and  it  was  only  on  its  southern  shore  that  the  Britons  held  their 
ground.     Eight  years  later  the  long  contest  was  over,  and  with  the        47i 
fall  of  Lymne,  whose  broken  walls  look  from  the  slope  to  which 
they  cling  over  the  great  flat  of  Romney  Marsh,  the  work  of  the 
VOL.  1—2 


iS 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  ii  first  conqueror  was  done.      But  the  greed  of  plunder  drew  fresh 

THE  war-bands   from   the   German   coast.     New   invaders,   drawn   from 

ENGLISH 

CONQUEST  amOng  the  Saxon  tribes  that  lay  between  the  Elbe  and  the  Rhine, 


TO 


were  seen  in  477,  only  four  years  later,  pushing  slowly  along  the 
strip  of  land  which  lay  westward  of  Kent  between  the  Weald  and 
the  sea.  Nowhere  has  the  physical  aspect  of  the  country  been 
more  utterly  changed.  The  vast  sheet  of  scrub,  woodland,  and 


TAMISSA  AESTUAR  Mouth  of  the  Thames 


^^ 


f«Ji  .T;--   =,«.«••  .  -w~~ 

ijsLW&f&C1^* 


rtanWamesDUROVE.RNUM.£n£lis/iCANTWARA  BYRIG. Modern  Cantcrturj 
English  Miles 


Walker  GrBoutallsc. 


waste  which  then  bore  the  name  of  the  Andredsweald  stretched 
for  more  than  a  hundred  miles  from  the  borders  of  Kent  to  the 
Hampshire  Downs,  extending  northward  almost  to  the  Thames, 
and  leaving  only  a  thin  strip  of  coast  along  its  southern  edge.  This 
coast  was  guarded  by  a  great  fortress  which  occupied  the  spot  now 
called  Pevensey,  the  future  landing-place  of  the  Norman  Conqueror. 
The  fall  of  this  fortress  of  Anderida  in  491  established  the  kingdom 
of  the  South-Saxons  ;  "  ^Elle  and  Cissa,"  ran  the  pitiless  record  of 
the  conquerors,  "  beset  Anderida,  and  slew  all  that  were  therein, 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS  19 


nor  was  there  afterwards  one  Briton  left."     Another  tribe  of  Saxons      SEC.  n 
was  at  the  same  time  conquering  on  the  other  side  of  Kent,  to  the        THE 

ENGLISH 

north  of  the  estuary  of  the  Thames,  and  had  founded  the  settlement  CONQUEST 
of  the  East-Saxons,  as  these  warriors  came  to  be  called,  in  the  valleys  TO 
of  the  Colne  and  the  Stour.  To  the  northward  of  the  Stour,  the 
work  of  conquest  was  taken  up  by  the  third  of  the  tribes  whom  we 
have  seen  dwelling  in  their  German  homeland,  whose  name  was 
destined  to  absorb  that  of  Saxon  or  Jute,  and  to  stamp  itself  on  the 
land  they  won.  These  were  the  Engle,  or  Englishmen.  Their 
first  descents  seem  to  have  fallen  on  the  great  district  which  was 
cut  off  from  the  rest  of  Britain  by  the  Wash  and  the  Fens  and  long 
reaches  of  forest,  the  later  East  Anglia,  where  the  conquerors 
settled  as  the  North-folk  and  the  South-folk,  names  still  preserved 
to  us  in  the  modern  counties.  With  this  settlement  the  first  stage 
in  the  conquest  was  complete.  By  the  close  of  the  fifth  century  the 
whole  coast  of  Britain,  from  the  Wash  to  Southampton  Water,  was 
in  the  hands  of  the  invaders.  As  yet,  however,  the  enemy  had 
touched  little  more  than  the  coast  ;  great  masses  of  woodland  or  of 
fen  still  prisoned  the  Engle,  the  Saxon,  and  the  Jute  alike  within 
narrow  limits.  But  the  sixth  century  can  hardly  have  been  long 
begun  when  each  of  the  two  peoples  who  had  done  the  main  work 
of  conquest  opened  a  fresh  attack  on  the  flanks  of  the  tract  they 
had  won.  On  its  northern  flank  the  Engle  appeared  in  the  estuaries 
of  the  Forth  and  of  the  Humber.  On  its  western  flank,  the  Saxons 
appeared  in  the  Southampton  \Vater. 

The  true  conquest  of  Southern  Britain  was  reserved  for  a  fresh  Conquest 
band  of  Saxons,  a  tribe  whose  older  name  was  that  of  the  Gewissas,   southern 
but   who  were    to    be    more  widely    known    as  the  West-Saxons.     Bntain 
Landing  westward  of  the  strip  of  coast  which  had  been  won  by  the 
war-bands  of   AL\\e,  they  struggled  under  Cerdic  and    Cynric  up 
from    Southampton    Water    in   495    to   the    great    downs    where 
Winchester  offered  so  rich  a  prize.      Five  thousand  Britons  fell  in        508 
a  fight  which  opened  the  country  to  these  invaders,  and   a  fresh 
victory  at  Charford  in  519  set  the  crown  of  the  West-Saxons  on  the 
head  of  Cerdic.     We  know  little  of  the  incidents  of  these  con- 
quests ;  nor  do  we  know  why  at  this  juncture  they  seem  to  have 
been  suddenly  interrupted.     But  it  is  certain  that  a  victory  of  the 
Britons  at  Mount  Badon  in   the  year  520  checked  the  progress  of 


20  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP,  i 


SEC.  ii      the   West-Saxons,  and   was   followed   by  a    long   pause    in    their 
THE       advance  :  for  thirty  years  the  great  belt  of  woodland  which  then 

ENGLISH  J     J 

CONQUEST    curved  round  from  Dorset  to  the  valley  of  the  Thames  seems  to 
449 
TO        have  barred  the  way  of  the  assailants.     What  finally  broke  their 

577 

inaction   we   cannot   tell.      We   only    know    that   Cynric,    whom 

Cerdic's  death  left  king  of  the  West-Saxons,  again  took  up  the 
552  work  of  invasion  by  a  new  advance  in  552.  The  capture  of  the 
hill-fort  of  Old  Sarum  threw  open  the  reaches  of  the  Wiltshire 
Downs  ;  and  pushing  northward  to  a  new  battle  at  Barbury  Hill, 
they  completed  the  conquest  of  the  Marlborough  Downs.  From 
the  bare  uplands  the  invaders  turned  eastward  to  the  richer  valleys 
568  of  our  Berkshire,  and  after  a  battle  with  the  Kentish  men  at 
Wimbledon,  the  land  south  of  the  Thames  which  now  forms  our 
Surrey  was  added  to  their  dominions.  The  road  along  the  Thames 
was  however  barred  to  them,  for  the  district  round  London  seems 
to  have  been  already  won  and  colonized  by  the  East-Saxons.  But 
a  march  of  their  King  Cuthwulf  made  them  masters  in  571  of  the 
districts  which  now  form  Oxfordshire  and  Buckinghamshire  ;  and 
a  few  years  later  they  swooped  from  the  Wiltshire  uplands  on  the 
rich  prey  that  lay  along  the  Severn.  Gloucester,  Cirencester,  and 
Bath,  cities  which  had  leagued  under  their  British  kings  to  resist 
this  onset,  became  the  spoil  of  a  Saxon  victory  at  Deorham  in  577, 
and  the  line  of  the  great  western  river  lay  open  to  the  arms  of  the 
583  conquerors.  Under  a  new  king,  Ceawlin,  the  West-Saxons 
penetrated  to  the  borders  of  Chester,  and  Uriconium,  a  town 
beside  the  Wrekin,  recently  again  brought  to  light,  went  up  in 
flames.  A  British  poet  sings  piteously  the  death-song  of  Uriconium, 
"  the  white  town  in  the  valley,"  the  town  of  white  stone  gleaming 
among  the  green  woodland,  the  hall  of  its  chieftain  left  "  without 
fire,  without  light,  without  songs,"  the  silence  broken  only  by  the 
eagle's  scream,  "  the  eagle  who  has  swallowed  fresh  drink,  heart's 
blood  of  Kyndylan  the  fair."  The  raid,  however,  was  repulsed, 
and  the  blow  proved  fatal  to  the  power  of  Wessex.  Though 
the  West-Saxons  were  destined  in  the  end  to  win  the  overlord- 
ship  over  every  English  people,  their  time  had  not  come  yet, 
and  the  leadership  of  the  English  race  was  to  fall,  for  nearly  a 
century  to  come,  to  the  tribe  of  invaders  whose  fortunes  we  have 
now  to  follow. 


BRITAIN 

and  the 

ENGLISH  CONQUEST 


English  Miles 
10    20  30    40  50 


Bebban  Burh 
'amiorouffi 


British  names Deifyr 

Roman  names VECTIS 

English  names .Winte 

Modern  names Baffoni 

Forests  shewn  thus 

Marshes     ..        ..     .. 

Heath         ..       _     .. 
Mountainous  country  is  indicated 
by  a  ruled  tint  thus  - 


.NDEHIDA 

dredes  Ceastv 
fnautf 


22  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  ii  Rivers  were  the  natural  inlets  by  which  the  northern  pirates 

THE  everywhere  made  their  way  into  the  heart  of  Europe.      In   Britain 

ENGLISH 

CONQUEST  fae  fortress  of  London  barred  their  way  along  the  Thames  from  its 

449 

TO  mouth,  and  drove  them,  as  we  have  seen,  to  an  advance  along  the 

—  southern  coast  and  over  the  downs  of  Wiltshire,  before  reaching  its 
Conquest  .... 

of  Mid-  upper  waters.     But  the  rivers  which  united  in  the  estuary  of  the 

and*  the  Humber  led  like  open  highways  into  the  heart  of  Britain,  and  it 


North  was  j^  tnjs  jniet  that  the  great  mass  of  the  invaders  penetrated 
into  the  interior  of  the  island.  Like  the  invaders  of  East  Anglia, 
they  were  of  the  English  tribe  from  Sleswick.  As  the  storm  fell 
in  the  opening  of  the  sixth  century  on  the  Wolds  of  Lincolnshire 
that  stretch  southward  from  the  Humber,  the  conquerors  who 
settled  in  the  deserted  country  were  known  as  the  "  Lindiswara,"  or 
"  dwellers  about  Lindum."  A  part  of  the  warriors  who  had  entered 
the  Humber,  turned  southward  by  the  forest  of  Elmet  which 
covered  the  district  around  Leeds,  followed  the  course  of  the  Trent. 
Those  who  occupied  the  wooded  country  between  the  Trent  and 
the  Humber  took  from  their  position  the  name  of  Southumbrians. 
A  second  division,  advancing  along  tli3  curve  of  the  former  river 
and  creeping  down  the  line  of  its  tributary,  the  Soar,  till  they 

c.  550  reached  Leicester,  became  known  as  the  Middle-English.  The 
marshes  of  the  Fen  country  were  settled  by  tribes  known  as  the 
Gyrwas.  The  head  waters  of  the  Trent  were  the  seat  of  those 
invaders  who  penetrated  furthest  to  the  west,  and  camped  round 
Lichfield  and  Repton.  This  country  became  the  borderland 
between  Englishmen  and  Britons,  and  the  settlers  bore  the  name 
of  "  Mercians,"  men,  that  is,  of  the  March  or  border.  We  know 
hardly  anything  of  this  conquest  of  Mid-Britain,  and  little  more  of 
the  conquest  of  the  north.  Under  the  Romans,  political  power  had 
centred  in  the  vast  district  between  the  Humber  and  the  Forth. 
York  had  been  the  capital  of  Britain  and  the  seat  of  the  Roman 
prefect  ;  and  the  bulk  of  the  garrison  maintained  in  the  island  lay 
cantoned  along  the  Roman  wall.  Signs  of  wealth  and  prosperity 
appeared  everywhere  ;  cities  rose  beneath  the  shelter  of  the  Roman 
camps  ;  villas  of  British  landowners  studded  the  vale  of  the  Ouse 
and  the  far-off  uplands  of  the  Tweed,  where  the  shepherd  trusted 
for  security  against  Pictish  marauders  to  the  terror  of  the  Roman 
name.  This  district  was  assailed  at  once  from  the  north  and  from 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS 


the    south.       A    part    of    the    invading    force    which    entered   the 
Humber  marched  over  the  Yorkshire  wolds  to  found  a  kingdom, 

o 


SEC.  II 


THE 
ENGLISH 

which  was  known  as  that  of  the  Deiri,  in  the  fens  of  Holderness    CONQUES'* 

449 

TO 

577 


and  on  the  chalk  downs  eastward  of  York.  But  they  were  soon 
drawn  onwards,  and  after  a  struggle  of  which  we  know  nothing, 
York,  like  its  neighbour  cities,  lay  a  desolate  ruin,  while  the  500-520 
conquerors  spread  northward,  slaying  and  burning  along  the  valley 
of  the  Ouse.  Meanwhile  the  pirates  had  appeared  in  the  Forth, 
and  won  their  way  along  the  Tweed  ,  Ida  and  the  men  of  fifty 
keels  which  followed  him  reared  the  capital  of  the  northernmost 
kingdom  of  the  English,  that  of  Bernicia,  on  the  rock  of  Barn- 
borough,  and  Won  their  way  slowly  along  the  coast  against  a 
stubborn  resistance  which  formed  the  theme  of  British  songs.  The 
strife  between  the  kingdoms  of  Deira  and  Bernicia  for  supremacy 
in  the  North  was  closed  by  their  being  united  under  king  yEthelric  S88 
of  Bernicia  ;  and  from  this  union  was  formed  a  new  kingdom,  the 
kingdom  of  Northumbria. 

It  was  this  century  of  conquest  by  the  English  race  which  really  Gildas 
made  Britain  England.  In  our  anxiety  to  know  more  of  our  c- 5l6~S7° 
fathers,  we  listen  to  the  monotonous  plaint  of  Gildas,  the  one  writer 
whom  Britain  has  left  us,  with  a  strange  disappointment.  Gildas 
had  seen  the  invasion  of  the  pirate  hosts,  and  it  is  to  him  we  owe 
our  knowledge  of  the  conquest  of  Kent.  But  we  look  in  vain  to 
his  book  for  any  account  of  the  life  or  settlement  of  the  English 
conquerors.  Across  the  border  of  the  new  England  that  was 
growing  up  along  the  southern  shores  of  Britain,  Gildas  gives  us 
but  a  glimpse — doubtless  he  had  but  a  glimpse  himself — of  for- 
saken walls,  of  shrines  polluted  by  heathen  impiety.  His  silence 
and  his  ignorance  mark  the  character  of  the  struggle.  No  British 
neck  had  as  yet  bowed  before  the  English  invader,  no  British  pen 
was  to  record  his  conquest.  A  century  after  their  landing  the 
English  are  still  known  to  their  British  foes  only  as  "  barbarians," 
"  wolves,"  "  dogs,"  "  whelps  from  the  kennel  of  barbarism,"  "  hateful  ' 
to  God  and  man."  Their  victories  seemed  victories  of  the  powers 
of  evil,  chastisements  of  a  divine  justice  for  national  sin.  Their 
ravage,  terrible  as  it  had  been,  was  held  to  be  almost  at  an  end  :  in 
another  century — so  ran  old  prophecies — their  last  hold  on  the  land 
would  be  shaken  off.  But  of  submission  to,  or  even  of  intercourse 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  II 

THE 

ENGLISH 
CONQUEST 

449 

TO 

577 

The 
English 
Settle- 
ment 


with  the  strangers  there  is  not  a  word.     Gildas  tells  us  nothing  of 
their  fortunes,  or  of  their  leaders. 

In  spite  of  his  silence,  however,  we  may  still  know  something  of 
the  way  in  which  the  new  English  society  grew  up  in  the  conquered 
country,  for  the  driving  back  of  the  Briton  was  but  the  prelude  to 
the  settlement  of  his  conqueror.  What  strikes  us  at  once  in  the 
new  England  is,  that  it  was  the  one  purely  German  nation  that  rose 
upon  the  wreck  of  Rome.  In  other  lands,  in  Spain,  or  Gaul,  or 
Italy,  though  they  were  equally  conquered  by  German  peoples, 


OLD    ENGLISH    COMBS. 
Aki'rman,  "Pagan  Saxondom." 


religion,  social  life,  administrative  order,  still  remained  Roman.  In 
Britain  alone  Rome  died  into  a  vague  tradition  of  the  past.  The 
whole  organization  of  government  and  society  disappeared  with  the 
people  who  used  it.  The  villas,  the  mosaics,  the  coins  which  we 
dig  up  in  our  fields  are  no  relics  of  our  English  fathers,  but  of  a 
Roman  world  which  our  fathers'  sword  swept  utterly  away.  Its 
law,  its  literature,  its  manners,  its  faith,  went  with  it.  The  new 
England  was  a  heathen  country.  The  religion  of  Woden  and 
Thunder  triumphed  over  the  religion  of  Christ.  Alone  among  the 
German  assailants  of  Rome  the  English  rejected  the  faith  of  the 
Empire  they  helped  to  overthrow.  Elsewhere  the  Christian 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS 


priesthood  served  as  mediators  between  the  barbarian  and  the 
conquered,  but  in  the  conquered  part  of  Britain  Christianity  wholly 
disappeared.  River  and  homestead  and  boundary,  the 
very  days  of  the  week,  bore  the  names  of  the  new  gods 
who  displaced  Christ.  But  if  England  seemed  for  the 


OLD    ENGLISH    BUCKLES. 
British  Museum  and  Dover  Museum. 


moment  a  waste  from  which  all  the  civilization  of  the  world  had 
fled  away,  it  contained  within  itself  the  germs  of  a  nobler  life  than 
that  which  had  been  destroyed.  The  base  of  the  new  English 
society  was  the  freeman  whom  we  have  seen  tilling,  judging, 
or  sacrificing  for  himself  in  his  far-off 
fatherland  by  the  Northern  Sea.  How- 
ever roughly  he  dealt  while  the  struggle 
went  on  with  the  material  civilization 
of  Britain,  it  was  impossible  that  such 
a  man  could  be  a  mere  destroyer.  War 
was  no  sooner  over  than  the  warrior 
settled  down  into  a  farmer,  and  the  home 
of  the  peasant  churl  rose  beside  the 
heap  of  goblin-haunted  stones  that 
marked  the  site  of  the  villa  he  had 
burnt.  Little  knots  of  kinsfolk  drew 
together  in  "  tun  "  and  "  ham  "  beside 
the  Thames  and  the  Trent  as  they  had 
settled  beside  the  Elbe  or  the  Weser, 
not  as  kinsfolk  only,  but  as  dwellers  in 
the  same  plot,  knit  together  by  their 
common  holding  within  the  same  bounds. 
Each  little  village-commonwealth  lived 

the  same  life  in  Britain  as  its  farmers  had  lived  at  home.     Each 
had  its  moot  hill  or  sacred   tree   as  a  centre,  its   "  mark "  as  a 


OLD     LNGLISH     KEYS. 
Akerman,  "  Pagan  Saxondom" 


SEC.  n 


26 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC,  ii 
T«E 

ENGLISH 

CONQUEST 

TO 
577 


border  ;  each  judged  by  witness  of  the  kinsfolk  and  made  laws  in 
the  assembly  of  its  freemen,  and  chose 
fae  lea(jers  for  jts  own  governance,  and 
the  men   who  were   to  follow  headman 
or  ealdorman  to  hundred-court  or  war. 

England          In  more  ways  than  one,  indeed,  the 

and  the  .,  .  ...          r  T-       i-  i.          •   ^ 

Conquest  primitive  organization  of  English  society 

was  affected  by  its  transfer  to  the  soil 

of  Britain.     Conquest  begat  the   King. 

It    is    probable  that   the    English    had 

hitherto   known    nothing    of    kings    in 

their  own  fatherland,  where  each    tribe 

lived    under   the  rule   of   its   own    cus- 

tomary Ealdorman.     But  in  a  war  such 

as  thr.t  which  they  waged    against   the 

Britons  it  was  necessary  to  find  a  com- 

mon   leader   whom    the   various    tribes 

engaged   in  conquests  such  as  those  of  Kent    or  Wessex  might 

follow  ;  and  such  a  leader  soon  rose  into  a  higher  position  than  that 


PLATINGS   OF  AN  OLD  ENGLISH 

BUCKET. 
Akerman,  "  Pagan  Saxondom." 


OLD    ENGLISH    FIBULAE. 

i.  Akerman,  " Pagan  Saxondom."     2.  Collection  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries. 
3.  British  Museum. 

of  a  temporary  chief.    The  sons  of  Hengest  became  kings  in  Kent ; 
those  of  ^Elle  in  Sussex  ;  the  West-Saxons  chose  Cerdic  for  their 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS 


king.    Such  a  choice  at  once  drew  the  various  villages  and  tribes     SEC.  n 
of  each  community  closer  together  than  of  old,  while  the  new  ruler    E^HJSH 
surrounded  himself  with  a  chosen  war-band  of  companions,  servants,   CONQUEST 
or  "  thegns  "  as  they  were  called,  who  were  rewarded  for  their  service        TO 
by  gifts   from   the  public   land.     Their  distinction    rested,   not  on       — — 
hereditary  rank,  but  on  service  done  to  the  King,  and  they  at  last 
became  a  nobility  which  superseded    the  "  eorls "  of  the  original 
English  constitution.    And  as  war  begat  the  King  and  the  military 
noble,  so  it  all  but  begat  the  slave.    There  had  always  been  a  slave 
class,  a  class  of  the  unfree,  among  the  English  as  among  all  German 
peoples  ;  but  the  numbers  of  this  class,  if  unaffected  by  the  conquest 


OLD     ENGLISH     GLASS     VESSELS. 
Akcnnan,  "'Pagan  Saxondom." 


of  Britain,  were  swelled  by  the  wars  which  soon  sprang  up  among 
the  English  conquerors.  No  rank  saved  the  prisoner  taken  in  battle 
from  the  doom  of  slavery,  and  slavery  itself  was  often  welcomed  as 
saving  the  prisoner  from  death.  \\e  see  this  in  the  story  of  a  noble 
warrior  who  had  fallen  wounded  in  a  fight  between  two  English 
tribes,  and  was  carried  as  a  bond-slave  to  the  house  of  a  thegn  hard 
by.  He  declared  himself  a  peasant,  but  his  master  penetrated  the 
disguise.  "  You  deserve  death,"  he  said,  "  since  all  my  brothers  and 
kinsfolk  fell  in  the  fight ; "  but  for  his  oath's  sake  he  spared  his  life 
and  sold  him  to  a  Frisian  at  London,  probably  a  merchant  such 
as  those  who  were  carrying  English  captives  at  that  time  to  the 
market-place  of  Rome.  But  war  was  not  the  only  cause  of  the  in- 
crease of  this  slave  class.  The  numbers  of  the  "  unfree  "  were  swelled 
by  debt  and  crime.  Famine  drove  men  to  "  bend  their  heads  in  the 


28 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  II 

THE 

ENGLISH 
CONQUEST 

449 

TO 

577 


evil  days  for  meat  ; "  the  debtor  unable  to  discharge  his  debt  flung 
on  the  ground  the  freeman's  sword  and  spear,  took  up  the  labourer's 
mattock,  and  placed  his  head  as  a  slave  within  a  master's  hands. 
The  criminal  whose  kins- 
folk wbuld  not  mak3  up 
his  fine  became  a  crime- 
serf  of  the  plaintiff  or  the 
king.  Sometimes  a  father, 
pressed  by  need,  sold  chil- 
dren and  wife  into  bond- 
age. The  slave  became 
part  of  the  live-stock  of 
the  estate,  to  be  willed 
away  at  death  with  horse 
or  ox  whose  pedigree  was 
kept  as  carefully  as  his 
own.  His  children  were 
bondsmen  like  himself; 
even  the  freeman's  chil- 
dren by  a  slave-mother 

inherited  the  mother's  taint.  "Mine  is  the  calf  that  is  born  of 
my  cow,"  ran  the  English  proverb.  The  cabins  of  the  unfree 
clustered  round  the  home  of  the  rich  landowner  as  they  had 
clustered  round  the  villa  of  the  Roman  gentleman;  ploughman, 
shepherd,  goatherd,  swineherd,  oxherd  and  cowherd,  dairymaid, 
barnman,  sower,  hayward  and  woodward,  were  often  slaves.  It  was 
not  such  a  slavery  as  that  we  have  known  in  modern  times,  for 
stripes  and  bonds  were  rare  ;  if  the  slave  were  slain,  it  was  by  an 

angry  blow,  not  by  the 
lash.  But  his  lord  could 
slay  him  if  he  would  ; 
it  was  but  a  chattel  the 
less.  The  slave  had  no 
place  in  the  justice-court,  no  kinsman  to  claim  vengeance  for  his 
wrong.  If  a  stranger  slew  him,  his  lord  claimed  the  damages  ;  if 
guilty  of  wrong-doing,  "his  skin  paid  for  him  "  under  the  lash.  If 
he  fled  he  might  be  chased  like  a  strayed  beast,  and  flogged  to 
death  for  his  crime,  or  burned  to  death  if  the  slave  were  a  woman. 


OLD    ENGLISH    SPOON. 
Ashmolean  Afiiscutn,  Oxford. 


OLD    ENGLISH    FORK. 
Akennan,  "Pagan  Saxondom." 


i  THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS  29 

SEC.  Ill 
THE 

Section  III.  —  The  Northumbrian  Kingdom,  588  —  685  UM^R™N 

KINGDOM 
588 

[Authorities.  —  Baeda's  "  HistoriaEcclesiastica  Gentis  Anglorum"  is  the  one  TO 
primary  authority  for  this  period.  I  have  spoken  fully  of  it  and  its  writer  in 
the  text.  The  meagre  regnal  and  episcopal  annals  of  the  West-Saxons  have 
been  brought  by  numerous  insertions  from  Baeda  to  the  shape  in  which  they  at 
present  appear  in  the  "  English  Chronicle."  The  Poem  of  Caedmon  has  been 
published  by  Mr.  Thorpe,  and  copious  summaries  of  it  are  given  by  Sharon 
Turner  ("  Hist,  of  Anglo-Saxons,"  vol.  iii.  cap.  3)  and  Mr.  Morley  ("  English 
Writers,"  vol.  i.).  The  life  of  Wilfrid  by  Eddi,  and  those  of  Cuthbert  by  Basda 
and  an  earlier  contemporary  biographer,  which  are  appended  to  Mr.  Stevenson's 
edition  of  the  "  Historia  Ecclesiastica,"  throw  great  light  on  the  religious 
condition  of  the  North.  For  Guthlac  of  Crowland,  see  the  "  Acta  Sanctorum  " 
for  April  xi.  For  Theodore,  and  the  English  Church  which  he  organized,  see 
Kemble  ("  Saxons  in  England,"  vol.  ii.  cap.  8  —  10),  and  above  all  the  invaluable 
remarks  of  Dr.  Stubbs  in  his  "  Constitutional  History."] 


The  conquest  of  the  bulk  of  Britain  was  now  complete.  Eastward 
of  a  line  which  may  be  roughly  drawn  along  the  moorlands  of 
Northumberland  and  Yorkshire,  through  Derbyshire  and  skirting 
the  Forest  of  Arden,  to  the  mouth  of  the  Severn,  and  thence  by 
Mendip  to  the  sea,  the  island  had  passed  into  English  hands.  From 
this  time  the  character  of  the  English  conquest  of  Britain  was 
wholly  changed.  The  older  wars  of  extermination  came  to  an  end, 
and  as  the  invasion  pushed  westward  in  later  times  the  Britons  were 
no  longer  wholly  driven  from  the  soil,  but  mingled  with  their  con- 
querors. A  far  more  important  change  was  that  which  was  seen 
in  the  attitude  of  the  English  conquerors  from  this  time  towards 
each  other.  Freed  to  a  great  extent  from  the  common  pressure  of 
the  war  against  the  Britons,  their  energies  turned  to  combats  with 
one  another,  to  a  long  struggle  for  overlordship  which  was  to  end 
in  bringing  about  a  real  national  unity.  The  West-Saxons,  beaten 
back  from  their  advance  along  the  Severn  valley,  and  overthrown  in 
a  terrible  defeat  at  Faddiley,  were  torn  by  internal  dissensions,  even  584 
while  they  were  battling  for  life  against  the  Britons.  Strife  between 
the  two  rival  kingdoms  of  Bernicia  and  Deira  in  the  north  absorbed 
the  power  of  the  Engle  in  that  quarter,  till  in  588  the  strength  of 
Deira  suddenly  broke  down,  and  the  Bernician  king,  ^thelric, 
gathered  the  two  peoples  into  a  realm  which  was  to  form  the  later 
kingdom  of  Northumbria.  Amid  the  confusion  of  north  and  south 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  Ill 

THE 

NORTH- 
UMBRIAN 
KINGDOM 

588 

TO 
685 


the  primacy  among  the  conquerors  was  seized  by  Kent,  where  the 
kingdom  of  the  Jutes  rose  suddenly  into  greatness  under  a  king 


called  jEthelberht,  who  before  597  established  his  supremacy  over 
the  Saxons  of  Middlesex  and  Essex,  as  well  as  over  the  English 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS  31 


of  East  Anglia  and  of  Mercia  as  far  north   as  the  Humber  and     SEC.  in 
the  Trent.  THE 

The  overlordship  of  ./Ethelberht  was  marked  by  a  renewal  of  that     ""BRIAN 

J  KINGDOM 

intercourse  of  Britain  with  the  Continent  which  had  been  broken        588 

TO 

off  by  the   conquests   of  the  English.     His  marriage  with  Bertha,        685 

the  daughter  of  the  Frankish  King  Charibert  of  Paris,  created  a    Landing 

fresh  tie  between   Kent   and   Gaul.     But  the  union  had  far  more  °   tiru;US 

important  results  than  those  of  which  ^Ethelberht  may  have  dreamed.      c.  589 

Bertha,  like  her  Frankish  kinsfolk,  was  a  Christian.    A  Christian 

bishop  accompanied  her  from  Gaul  to  Canterbury,  the  royal  city 

of  the  kingdom  of  Kent  ;  and  a  ruined  Christian  church,  the  church 

of  St.  Martin,  was  given  them  for  their  worship.    The  marriage  of 

Bertha  was  an  opportunity  which  was  at  once  seized  by  the  bishop 

who    at    this    time   occupied   the    Roman    See,  and  who  is  justly 

known  as  Gregory  the  Great.     A  memorable  story  tells  us  how, 

when  but  a  young  Roman  deacon,  Gregory  had  noted  the  white 

bodies,  the  fair  faces,  the  golden  hair  of  some  youths  who  stood 

bound  in  the  market  place  of  Rome.    "  From  what  country  do  these 

slaves  come  ?  "  he  asked  the  traders  who  brought  them.    "  They  are 

English,  Angles  !  "  the  slave-dealers  answered.     The  deacon's  pity 

veiled  itself  in  poetic  humour.    "  Not  Angles  but  Angels,"  he  said, 

"  with   faces   so   angel-like !    From   what   country    come     they  ?  " 

"  They   come,"    said    the    merchants,    "  from    Deira."    "  De    ira !  " 

was  the  untranslateable  reply  ;  "  aye,  plucked  from  God's  ire,  and 

called  to  Christ's  mercy  !  And  what  is  the  name  of  their  king  ? " 

"  ALUa"  they  told  him  ;  and   Gregory  seized  on  the  words  as  of 

good  omen.    "  Alleluia  shall  be  sung  in  Ella's  land  !  "  he  cried,  and 

passed  on,  musing  how  the  angel  faces  should  be  brought  to  sing 

it.     Only  three  or  four  years  had  gone  by,  when  the  deacon  had 

become  Bishop  of  Rome,  and  Bertha's  marriage  gave  him  the  opening 

he  sought.    After  cautious  negotiations  with  the  rulers  of  Gaul,  he 

sent  a  Roman  abbot,  Augustine,  at  the  head  of  a  band  of  monks, 

to   preach  the  gospel   to   the    English   people.     The  missionaries 

landed  in  597  on  the  very  spot  where  Hengest  had  landed  more  than 

a  century  before  in  the  Isle  of  Thanet  ;  and  the  king  received  them 

sitting  in  the  open  air  on  the  chalk-down  above  Minster,  where  the 

eye  nowadays  catches  miles  away  over  the  marshes  the  dim  tower 

of  Canterbury.    He  listened  to  the  long  sermon  as  the  interpreters 


S.    LUKE,    FROM    THE    GOSPEL-BOOK    OF    S.    AUGUSTINE. 
N<ra»  at  Corpv-s  Chritti  College,  Cambridge. 


CHAP.  I 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS 


33 


whom  Augustine  had  brought  with  him  from  Gaul  translated  it. 
"  Your  words  are  fair,"  ^thelberht  replied  at  last  with  English  good 
sense,  "  but  they  are  new  and  of  doubtful  meaning  ; "  for  himself, 
he  said,  he  refused  to  forsake  the  gods  of  his  fathers,  but  he 
promised  shelter  and  protection  to  the  strangers.  The  band  of  monks 
entered  Canterbury  bearing  before  them  a  silver  cross  with  a  picture 
of  Christ,  and  singing  in  concert  the  strains  of  the  litany  of  their 
church.  "  Turn  from  this  city,  Lord,"  they  sang,  "  Thine  anger 
and  wrath,  and  turn  it  from  Thy  holy  house,  for  we  have  sinned." 
And  then  in  strange  contrast  came  the  jubilant  cry  of  the  older 
Hebrew  worship,  the  cry  which  Gregory  had  wrested  in  prophetic 
earnestness  from  the  name  of  the  Yorkshire  king  in  the  Roman 
market-place,  "  Alleluia  !  " 

It  is  strange  that  the  spot  which  witnessed  the  landing  of 
Hengest  should  be  yet  better  known  as  the  landing-place  of 
Augustine.  But  the  second  landing  at  Ebbsfleet  was  in  no  small 


SCEATTA,  RUNIC  TYPE. 


SCEATTAS,  ROMAN  TYPE. 

measure  the  reversal  and  undoing  of  the  first.  "  Strangers  from 
Rome  "  was  the  title  with  which  the  missionaries  first  fronted  the 
English  king.  The  march  of  the  monks  as  they  chanted  their 
solemn  litany  was,  in  one  sense,  the  return  of  the  Roman  legions 
who  had  retired  at  the  trumpet-call  of  Alaric.  It  was  to  the 
tongue  and  the  thought  not  of  Gregory  only  but  of  such  men  as 
his  own  Jutish  fathers  had  slaughtered  and  driven  over  sea  that 
^Ethelberht  listened  in  the  preaching  of  Augustine.  Canterbury,  the 
earliest  royal  city  of  the  new  England,  became  the  centre  of  Latin 
influence.  The  Roman  tongue  became  again  one  of  the  tongues 
of  Britain,  the  language  of  its  worship,  its  correspondence,  its 
literature.  But  more  than  the  tongue  of  Rome  returned  with 
VOL.  1—3 


SRC.  Ill 

THE 
NORTH- 
UMBRIAN 
KINGDOM 
588 

TO 
685 


Reunion 
of  Eng- 
land 

and  the 
Western 

World 


34 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  Ill 

THE 

NORTH- 
UMBRIAN 
KINGDOM 

588 

TO 
685 


Fall  of 
Kent 


004 


607 


flEthel- 
fiith 

593-617 


Augustine.  Practically  his  landing  renewed  the  union  with  the 
western  world  which  the  landing  of  Hengest  had  all  but  destroyed. 
The  new  England  was  admitted  into  the  older  commonwealth  of 
nations.  The  civilization,  arts,  letters,  which  had  fled  before  the 
sword  of  the  English  conquest,  returned  with  the  Christian  faith. 
The  fabric  of  the  Roman  law  indeed  never  took  root  in  England, 
but  it  is  impossible  not  to  recognize  the  result  of  the  influence  of 
the  Roman  missionaries  in  the  fact  that  the  codes  of  customary 
English  law  began  to  be  put  into  writing  soon  after  their  arrival. 

As  yet  these  great  results  were  still  distant  ;  a  year  passed 
before  ^Ethelberht  yielded,  and  though  after  his  conversion 
thousands  of  the  Kentish  men  crowded  to  baptism,  it  was  years 
before  he  ventured  to  urge  the  under-kings  of  Essex  and  East 
Anglia  to  receive  the  creed  of  their  overlord.  This  effort  of 
/Ethelberht  however  only  heralded  a  revolution  which  broke  the 
power  of  Kent  for  ever.  The  tribes  of  Mid-  Britain  revolted  against 
his  supremacy,  and  gathered  under  the  overlordship  of  Raedwald  of 
East  Anglia.  The  revolution  clearly  marked  the  change  which 
had  passed  over  Britain.  Instead  of  a  chaos  of  isolated  peoples, 
the  conquerors  were  now  in  fact  gathered  into  three  great  groups. 
The  Engle  kingdom  of  the  north  reached  from  the  Humber  to  the 
Forth.  The  southern  kingdom  of  the  West-Saxons  stretched  from 
Watling  Street  to  the  Channel.  And  between  these  was  roughly 
sketched  out  the  great  kingdom  of  Mid-Britain,  which,  however  its 
limits  might  vary,  retained  a  substantial  identity  from  the  time  of 
.YEthelberht  till  the  final  fall  of  the  Mercian  kings.  For  the  next 
two  hundred  years  the  history  of  England  lies  in  the  struggle  of 
Northumbrian,  Mercian,  and  West-Saxon  kings  to  establish  their 
supremacy  over  the  general  mass  of  Englishmen,  and  unite  them  in 
a  single  England. 

In  this  struggle  the  lead  was  at  once  taken  by  Northumbria, 
which  was  rising  into  a  power  that  set  all  rivalry  at  defiance. 
Under  vEthelfrith,  who  had  followed  yEthelric  in  593,  the  work 
of  conquest  went  on  rapidly.  In  603  the  forces  of  the  northern 
Britons  were  annihilated  in  a  great  battle  at  Dxgsastan,  and 'the 
rule  of  Northumbria  was  established  from  the  Humber  to  the 
Forth.  Along  the  west  of  Britain  there  stretched  the  unconquered 
kingdoms  of  Strathclyde  and  Cumbria,  which  extended  from  the 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS 


35 


river  Clyde  to  the  Dee,  and  the  smaller  British  states  which  occupied      SEC.  in 
what  we  now  call  Wales.     Chester  formed  the  link  between  these        THE 

NORTH- 

two  bodies  ;  and  it  was  Chester  that  /Ethelfrith  chose  in  6n  for     "'BRIAN 

J  KINGDOM 

his  next  point  of  attack.      Some   miles  from  the  city  two  thousand        588 

TO 

monks  were  gathered  in  the  monastery  of  Bangor,  and  after  im-        685 
ploring  in  a  three  days'  fast  the  help  of  Heaven  for  their  country,        613 
a  crowd  of  these  ascetics   followed  the  British  army  to  the  field. 
-/Ethelfrith  watched  the  wild  gestures  and  outstretched  arms  of  the 
strange  company  as  it  stood  apart,  intent  upon  prayer,  and   took 
the  monks  for  enchanters.     "  Bear  they  arms  or  no,"  said  the  king, 
"  they  war  against  us  when  they  cry  against  us  to  their  God,"  and 
in  the  surprise  and  rout  which  followed  the  monks  were  the  first 
to  fall. 

The  British  kingdoms  were  now  utterly  parted  from  one  another. 
By  their  victory  at  Deorham  the  West-Saxons  had  cut  off  the 
Britons  of  Devon  and  Cornwall  from  the  general  body  of  their 
race.  By  his  victory  at  Chester  ^thelfrith  broke  this  body  again 
into  two  several  parts,  by  parting  the  Britons  of  Wales  from  those 
of  Cumbria  and  Strathclyde.  From  this  time  the  warfare  of  Briton 
and  Englishman  died  down  into  a  warfare  of  separate  English 
kingdoms  against  separate  British  kingdoms,  of  Northumbria 
against  Cumbria  and  Strathclyde,  of  Mercia  against  modern  Wales, 
of  Wessex  against  the  tract  of  British  country  from  Mendip  to  the 
Land's  End.  Nor  was  the  victory  of  Chester  of  less  importance  to 
England  itself.  With  it  ^Ethelfrith  was  at  once  drawn  to  new 
dreams  of  ambition  as  he  looked  across  his  southern  border,  where 
Raedwald  of  East  Anglia  was  drawing  the  peoples  of  Mid-Britain 
under  his  overlordship. 

The  inevitable  struggle  between  East  Anglia  and  Northumbria  Eadwine 
seemed   for  a   time   averted   by  the    sudden   death  of  ^thelfrith.     6l7~633 
Marching  in  617  against  Rnedwald,  who  had  sheltered  Eadwine,  an 
exile  from   the  Northumbrian  kingdom,  he  perished  in  a  defeat  at 
the  river  Idle.     Eadwine  mounted  the  Northumbrian  throne  on  the 
fall  of  his  enemy,  and  carried  on  the  work  of  government  with  an 
energy  as  ceaseless  as  that  of  yEthel  frith  himself.     His  victories 
over  Pict  and,  Briton  were  followed  by  the  winning  of  lordship  over 
the   English   of   Mid-Britain  ;    Kent  was   bound   to  him   in   close 
political   alliance  ;  and   the   English   conquerors  of  the  south,  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  Ill 

THE 

NORTH- 
UMBRIAN 
KINGDOM 

588 

TO 

685 


people  of  the  West-Saxons,  alone  remained  independent.  But  revolt 
and  slaughter  had  fatally  broken  the  power  of  the  West-Saxons 


626        when  the  Northumbrians  attacked  them.      A  story  preserved  by 
Bxda  tells  something  of  the  fierceness  of  the  struggle  which  ended 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS 


37 


in  the  subjection  of  the  south  to  the  overlordship  of  Northumbria. 
Eadwine  gave  audience  in  an  Easter  court  which  he  held  in  a 
king's  town  near  the  river  Derwent  to  Eumer,  an  envoy  of  Wessex, 
who  brought  a  message  from  its  king.  In  the  midst  of  the 
conference  the  envoy  started  to  his  feet,  drew  a  dagger  from  his 
robe,  and  rushed  madly  on  the  Northumbrian  sovereign.  Lilla, 
one  of  the  king's  war-band,  threw  himself  between  Eadwine  and 
his  assassin  ;  but  so  furious  was  the  stroke  that  even  through  Lilla's 
body  the  dagger  still  reached  its  aim.  The  king  however  recovered 


SEC.  Ill 

THE 

NORTH- 
UMBRIAN 
KINGDOM 

588 

TO 
685 


OLD    ENGLISH    GLASS    VESSELS. 
Akerman,  "Pagan  Saxondom." 


from  his  wound  to  march  on  the  West-Saxons ;  he  slew  and 
subdued  all  who  had  conspired  against  him,  and  returned  victorious 
to  his  own  country.  The  greatness  of  Northumbria  now  reached 
its  height.  Within  his  own  dominions  Eadwine  displayed  a  genius 
for  civil  government  which  shows  how  completely  the  mere  age  of 
conquest  had  passed  away.  With  him  began  the  English  proverb 
so  often  applied  to  after  kings,  "A  woman  with  her  babe  might 
walk  scatheless  from  sea  to  sea  in  Eadwine's  day."  Peaceful  com- 
munication revived  along  the  deserted  highways  ;  the  springs  by  the 
roadside  were  marked  with  stakes,  and  a  cup  of  brass  set  beside 
each  for  the  traveller's  refreshment.  Some  faint  traditions  of  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  Ill 

THE 

NORTH- 
UMBRIAN 
KINGDOM 


TO 
685 


Conver- 
sion of 
I  orth- 
umbria 


OLD    ENGLISH    BRONZE    PATERA. 
Akertnan,  "Pagan  Saxondom." 


627 


Roman  past  may  have  flung  their  glory  round  this  new  "  Empire  of 
the  English  ; "  some  of  its  majesty  had  at  any  rate  come  back  with 
its  long-lost  peace.  A  royal  standard  of  purple  and  gold  floated 
before  Eadwine  as  he  rode  through  the  villages  ;  a  feather-tuft 
attached  to  a  spear,  the  Roman  tufa,  preceded  him  as  he  walked 
through  the  streets. 
The  Northumbrian 
king  was  in  fact  su- 
preme over'  Britain 
as  no  king  of  Eng- 
lish blood  had  been 
before.  Northward 
his  frontier  reached 
the  Forth,  and  was 
guarded  by  a  city 

which  bore  his  name,  Edinburgh,  Eadwine's  burgh,  the  city  of 
Eadwine.  Westward,  he  was  master  of  Chester,  and  the  fleet  he 
equipped  there  subdued  the  isles  of  Anglesey  and  Man.  South  of 
the  Humber  he  was  owned  as  overlord  by  the  whole  English  race, 
save  Kent  ;  and  even  Kent  was  bound  to  him  by  his  marriage  with 
its  king's  sister. 

With  the  Kentish  queen  came  Paulinus,  one  of  Augustine's 
followers,  whose  tall  stooping  form,  slender,  aquiline  nose,  and 
black  hair  falling  round  a  thin  worn  face,  were  long  remembered 
in  the  north  ;  and  the  Wise  Men  of  Northumbria  gathered  to 
deliberate  on  the  new  faith  to  which  Paulinus  and  his  queen  soon 
converted  Eadwine.  To  finer  minds  its  charm  lay  in  the  light  it 
threw  on  the  darkness  which  encompassed  men's  lives,  the  darkness 
of  the  future  as  of  the  past.  "  So  seems  the  life  of  man,  O  king," 
burst  forth  an  aged  Ealdorman,  "  as  a  sparrow's  flight  through  the 
hall  when  you  are  sitting  at  meat  in  winter-tide,  with  the  warm  fire 
lighted  on  the  hearth,  but  the  icy  rain-storm  without.  The  sparrow 
flies  in  at  one  door  and  tarries  for  a  moment  in  the  light  and  heat 
of  the  hearth-fire,  and  then  flying  forth  from  the  other  vanishes  into 
the  wintry  darkness  whence  it  came.  So  tarries  for  a  moment  the 
life  of  man  in  our  sight,  but  what  is  before  it,  what  after  it,  we 
know  not.  If  this  new  teaching  tells  us  aught  certainly  of  these, 
let  us  follow  it."  Coarser  arcmment  told  on  the  crowd.  "  None  of 


39 


your  people,  Eadwine,  have  worshipped  the  gods  more  busily  than      SEC.  in 
I,"  said  Coifi  the  priest,  "  yet  there  are  many  more  favoured  and        THE 

NORTH- 

more  fortunate.     Were  these  gods  good  for  anything  they  would      UMBRIAN 

J  KINGDOM 

help  their  worshippers."     Then  leaping  on  horseback,  he  hurled  his         588 

TO 

spear  into  the  sacred  temple  at  Godmanham,  and  with  the  rest  of        685 
the  Witan  embraced  the  religion  of  the  king. 

But  the  faith  of  Woden  and  Thunder  was  not  to  fall  without  a  The 
struggle.  Even  in  Kent  a  reaction  against  the  new  creed  began  struggl? 
with  the  death  of  ^thelberht.  Raedwald  of  East  Anglia  resolved 
to  serve  Christ  and  the  older  gods  together ;  and  a  pagan  and 
Christian  altar  fronted  one  another  in  the  same  royal  temple.  The 
young  kings  of  the  East-Saxons  burst  into  the  church  where 
Mellitus,  the  Bishop  of  London,  was  administering  the  Eucharist  to 
the  people,  crying,  "  Give  us  that  white  bread  you  gave  to  our 
father  Saba,"  and  on  the  bishop's  refusal  drove  him  from  their 
realm.  The  tide  of  reaction  was  checked  for  a  time  by  Eadwine's 
conversion,  until  Mercia  sprang  into  a  sudden  greatness  as  the 
champion  of  the  heathen  gods.  Under  Eadwine  Mercia  had 
submitted  to  the  lordship  of  Northumbria  ;  but  its  king,  Penda,  saw 
in  the  rally  of  the  old  religion  a  chance  of  winning  back  its 
independence.  Penda  had  not  only  united  under  his  own  rule  the 
Mercians  of  the  Upper  Trent,  the  Middle-English  of  Leicester,  the 
Southumbrians,  and  the  Lindiswaras,  but  he  had  even  been  strong 
enough  to  tear  from  the  West-Saxons  their  possessions  along  the 
Severn.  So  thoroughly  indeed  was  the  union  of  these  provinces 
effected,  that  though  some  were  detached  for  a  time  after  Penda's 
death,  the  name  of  Mercia  from  this  moment  must  be  generally 
taken  as  covering  the  whole  of  them.  Alone,  however,  he  was  as 
yet  no  match  for  Northumbria.  But  the  old  severance  between  the 
English  people  and  the  Britons  was  fast  dying  down,  and  Penda 
boldly  broke  through  the  barrier  which  parted  the  two  races,  and  633 
allied  himself  with  the  Welsh  king,  Cadwallon,  in  an  attack  on 
Eadwine.  The  armies  met  in  633  at  Hatfield,  and  in  the  fight 
which. followed  Eadwine  was  defeated  and  slain.  The  victory  was 
turned  to  profit  by  the  ambition  of  Penda,  while  Northumbria  was 
torn  with  the  strife  which  followed  Eadwine's  fall.  To  complete 
his  dominion  over  Mid-Britain,  Penda  marched  against  East  Anglia. 
The  East  Engle  had  returned  to  heathendom  from  the  oddly 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  Ill 

THE 

NORTH- 
UMBRIAN 
KINGDOM 

588 

TO 
685 


mingled  religion  of  their  first  Christian  king,  Raedwald  ;   but  the 
new  faith  was  brought  back  by  the  present  king,  Sigeberht.    Before 


the   threat   of    Penda's    attack    Sigeberht    left   his   throne  for   a 
monastery,  but  his  people  dragged  him  again  from  his  cell  on  the 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS 


OLD    ENGLISH    GOLD    CROSS. 
British  Museum. 


news  of  Penda's  invasion  in  634,  in  faith  that  his  presence  would 

bring  them  the  favour  of  Heaven. 
The  monk-king  was  set  in  the  fore- 
front of  the  battle,  but  he  would 
bear  no  weapon  save  a  wand,  and 
his  fall  was  followed  by  the  rout 
of  his  army  and  the  submission 
of  his  kingdom.  Meanwhile  Cad- 
wallon  remained  harrying  in  the 
heart  of  Deira,  and  made  himself 
master  even  of  York.  But  the 
triumph  of  the  Britons  was  as 
brief  as  it  was  strange.  Oswald, 
a  second  son  of  ^thelfrith,  placed 
himself  at  the  head  of  his  race,  and 

a  small  Northumbrian  force  gathered  in  635  under  their  new  king 

near  the  Roman  Wall.     Oswald  set  up  a 

cross  of  wood   as  his    standard,  holding  it 

with  his  own  hands  till  the  hollow  in  which 

it  was  fixed  was  filled  in  by  his  soldiers  ; 

then   throwing   himself   on    his    knees,  he 

cried  to  his  host  to  pray  to  the  living  God. 

Cadwallon,  the  last  great  hero  of  the  British 

race,  fell  fighting  on  the  "  Heaven's  Field," 

as  after   times  called    the   field  of  battle, 

and  for  seven  years  the  power  of  Oswald 

equalled  that  of  ^thelfrith  and  Eadwine. 
It    was    not    the    Church   of    Paulinus 

which  nerved  Oswald  to  this  struggle  for 

the  Cross.     Paulinus  had  fled  from  North- 

umbria  at  Eadwine's  fall ;   and  the  Roman 

Church  in  Kent  shrank  into  inactivity  be- 
fore the  heathen  reaction.    Its  place  in  the 

conversion  of  England  was  taken  by  mis- 
sionaries   from    Ireland.      To    understand, 

however,  the  true  meaning  of  the  change, 

we  must  remember  that  before  the  landing 

of  the   English  in    Britain,  the  Christian  Church  comprised  every 


FRAGMENT    OF    A    SUIT    OF 
BRONZE     RING-MAIL. 

Irish. 

Museum  of  Royal  frisk. 
Academy. 


SEC.  Ill 

THE 

NORTH- 
UMBRIAN 
KINGDOM 


685 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  in      country,   save    Germany,   in    Western   Europe,  as    far    as   Ireland 
itself.      The  conquest  of  Britain  by  the   pagan    English   thrust    a 


THE 
NORTH- 
UMBRIAN 
KINGDOM 


TO 
685 

Th~e 

Irish 

Church 


NIELLO  PENDANT   HOOK.  BRONZE  DISC. 

Irish.  Irish. 

Museum  of  Royal  Irish  Academy. 


wedge  of  heathendom  into  the  heart  of  this  great  communion 
and  broke  it  into  two  unequal  parts.  On  the  one  side  lay  Italy, 
Spain,  and  Gaul,  whose  Churches  owned  obedience  to  the  See 


ORNAMENT  OF  GILDED   BRONZE,    FOUND   IN   GOTLAND. 

Shewing  connexion  between  Scandinavian  and  Irish  art. 

Monteliits,  "Early  Civilization  in  Sweden." 

of  Rome,  on  the  other  the  Church  of  Ireland.  But  the  con- 
dition of  the  two  portions  of  Western  Christendom  was  very 
different.  While  the  vigour  of  Christianity  in  Italy  and  Gaul  and 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS 


43 


Spain  was  exhausted  in  a  bare  struggle  for  life,  Ireland,  which 
remained  unscourged  by  invaders,  drew  from  its  conversion  an 
energy  such  as  it  has  never  known  since.  Christianity  had  been 
received  there  with  a  burst  of  popular  enthusiasm,  and  letters  and 
arts  sprang  up  rapidly  in  its  train.  The  science  and  Biblical 
knowledge  which  fled  from  the  Continent  took  refuge  in  famous 
schools  which  made  Durrow  and  Armagh  the  universities  of  the 
West.  The  new  Christian  life  soon  beat  too  strongly  to  brook  con- 
finement within  the  bounds  of  Ireland  itself.  Patrick,  the  first 
missionary  of  the  island,  had  not  been  half  a  century  dead  when 
Irish  Christianity  flung  itself  with  a  fiery  zeal  into  battle  with  the 


SEC.  Ill 

THE 
NORTH- 
UMBRIAN 
•KINGDOM 

588 

TO 
685 


PLATE  OF  GILDED  BRONZE,  FOUND  IN  GOTLAND. 

Shewing  connexion  between  Scandinavian  and  Irish  art. 

Alontclius,  "Early  Civilization  i.i  Sweden." 


mass  of  heathenism  which  was  rolling  in  upon  the  Christian  world. 
Irish  missionaries  laboured  among  the  Picts  of  the  Highlands  and 
among  the  Frisians  of  the  northern  seas.  An  Irish  missionary, 
Columban,  founded  monasteries  in  Burgundy  and  the  Apennines. 
The  canton  of  St.  Gall  still  commemorates  ^  in  its  name  another 
Irish  missionary  before  whom  the  spirits  of  flood  and  fell  fled 
wailing  over  the  waters  of  the  Lake  of  Constance.  For  a  time  it 
seemed  as  if  the  course  of  the  world's  history  was  to  be  changed, 
as  if  the  older  Celtic  race  that  Roman  and  German  had  swept 
before  them  had  turned  to  the  moral  conquest  of  their  conquerors, 
as  if  Celtic  and  not  Latin  Christianity  was  to  mould  the  destinies 
of  the  Churches  of  the  West. 

On  a  low  island  of  barren  gneiss-rock  off  the  west  coast  of 
Scotland  an  Irish  refugee,  Columba,  had  raised  the  famous  monastery     634-64* 
of  lona.     Oswald  in  youth  found  refuge  within  its  walls,  and  on  his 
accession  to  the  throne  of  Northumbria  he  called  for  missionaries 
from  among  its  monks.    The  first  despatched  in  answer  to  his  call 


44 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC  in      obtained  little  success. 


THE 
NORTH- 
UMBRIAN 
KINGDOM 

588 

TO 
685 


ITe  declared  on  his  return  that  among  a 
people  so  stubborn  and  bar- 
barous success  was  impossible. 
"  Was  it  their  stubbornness  or 
your  severity  ?  "  asked  Aidan, 
a  brother  sitting  by  ;  "  did  you 
forget  God's  word  to  give  them 
the  milk  first  and  then  the 
meat  ? "  All  eyes  turned  on  the 
speaker  as  fittest  to  undertake 
the  abandoned  mission,  and 
Aidan  sailing  at  their  bidding 
fixed  his  bishop's  stool  or  see 
in  the  island-peninsula  of  Lindis- 
farne.  Thence,  from  a  monastery 
which  gave  to  the  spot  its  after 
name  of  Holy  Island,  preachers 
poured  forth  over  the  heathen  realms.  Boisil 


INITIAL    N. 
"Book  of  Kells,"    Irish 
MS.,  seventh  century. 
M.  Stokes,  "Early  Chris- 
tian Art  in  Ireland." 


guided  a  little  troop  of  missionaries  to  the  valley 
of  the  Tweed.  Aidan  himself  wandered  on  foot 
preaching  among  the  peasants  of  Bernlcia.  The 
new  religion  served  as  a  prelude  to  the  North- 
umbrian advance.  If  Oswald  was  a  saint,  he 
was  none  the  less  resolved  to  build  up  again 
the  realm  of  Eadwine.  Having  extended  his 
supremacy  over  the  Britons  of  Strathclyde  and 
won  the  submission  of  the  Lindiswaras,  he 
turned  to  reassert  his  supremacy  over  Wessex. 
The  reception  of  the  new  faith  became  the  mark 
of  submission  to  his  overlordship.  A  preacher, 
Birinus,  had  already  penetrated  from  Gaul  into 
Wessex  ;  in  Oswald's  presence  its  king  received 
baptism,  and  established  with  his  assent  a  see 
for  his  people  in  the  royal  city  of  Dorchester 
on  the  Thames.  Oswald  ruled  as  wide  a  realm  as 
his  predecessor  ;  but  for  after  times  the  memory 
of  his  greatness  was  lost  in  the  legends  of  his 
piety.  A  new  cor  ception  of  kingship  began  to 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS 


45 


blend  itself  with  that  of  the  warlike  glory  of  jEthelfrith  or  the 
wise  administration  of  Eadwine.     The  moral  power  which  was  to 


SEC.  Ill 

THE 
NORTH- 
UMBRIAN 
KINGDOM 

588 

TO 
685 


I  ford  I  (!atr*pl>! 


reach  its  height  in  ALlfred  first  dawns  in  the  story  of  Oswald.    In 
his  own  court  the  king  acted  as  interpreter  to  the  Irish  missionaries 


46 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP 


SEC.  Ill 

THE 

NORTH- 
UMBRIAN 
KINGDOM 


TO 
685 


Penda 
626-655 


in  their  efforts  to  convert  his  thegns.  "  By  reason  of  his  constant 
habit  of  praying  or  giving  thanks  to  the  Lord  he  was  wont 
wherever  he  sat  to  hold  his  hands  upturned  on  his  knees."  As  he 
feasted  with  Bishop  Aidan  by  his  side,  the  thegn,  or  noble  of  his 
war-band,  whom  he  had  set  to  give  alms  to  the  poor  at  his  gate, 
told  him  of  a  multitude  that  still  waited  fasting  without.  The  king 
at  once  bade  the  untasted  meat  before  him  be  carried  to  the  poor 
and  his  silver  dish  be  divided  piecemeal  among  them.  Aidan 
seized  the  royal  hand  and  blessed  it.  "  May  this  hand,"  he  cried, 
"  never  grow  old." 

Prisoned,  however,  as  it  was  by  the  conversion  of  Wessex  to 
the  central  districts  of  England,  heathendom  fought  desperately  for 
life.  Penda  was  still  its  rallying-point  ;  but  if  his  long  reign  was 
one  continuous  battle  with  the  new  religion,  it  was  in  fact  rather 
a  struggle  against  the  supremacy  of  Northumbria  than  against  the 
supremacy  of  the  Cross.  East 
Anglia  became  at  last  the 
field  of  contest  between  the 
two  powers.  In  6_|2  Oswald 
marched  to  deliver  it  from 
Penda  ;  but  in  a  battle  called 
the  battle  of  the  Maserfeld 
he  was  overthrown  and  slain. 
His  body  was  mutilated  and 
his  limbs  set  on  stakes  by  the 
brutal  conqueror  ;  but  legend 
told  that  when  all  else  of 
Oswald  had  perished,  the 
"  white  hand  "  that  Aidan  had 
blessed  still  remained  white 
and  uncorrupted.  For  a  few 
years  after  his  victory  at  the 
Maserfeld  Penda  stood  su- 
preme in  Britain.  Wessex 

owned  his  overlordship  as  it  had  owned  that  of  Oswald,  and  its 
king  threw  off  the  Christian  faith  and  married  Penda's  sister. 
Even  Deira  seems  to  have  bowed  to  him,  and  Bernicia  alone 
refused  to  yield.  Year  by  year  Penda  carried  his  ravages  over  the. 


IRISH    OGHAM     STONE. 
Museum  of  Royal  Irish  Academy. 


I  THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS  47 

north  ;  once  he  reached  even  the  royal  city,  the  impregnable  rock-     SEC.  in 
fortress    of  Bamborough.      Despairing    of   success   in    an    assault,        THE 

NORTH- 

he    pulled    down    the    cottages    around,     and,    piling    their   wood     K^DOM 
against  its  walls,  fired  the  mass  in  a  fair  wind  that  drove  the  flames        588 

TO 

on  the  town.  "  See,  Lord,  what  ill  Penda  is  doing,"  cried  Aidan  685 
from  his  hermit  cell  in  the  islet  of  Fame,  as  he  saw  the  smoke 
drifting  over  the  city  ;  and  a  change  of  wind — so  ran  the  legend 
of  Northumbria's  agony — drove  back  at  the  words  the  flames 
on  those  who  kindled  them.  But  in  spite  of  Penda's  victories, 
the  faith  which  he  had  so  often  struck  down  revived  every- 
where around  him.  Burnt  and  harried  as  it  was,  Bernicia  still 
clung  to  the  Cross.  The  East-Saxons  again  became  Christian. 

Penda's   own   son,  whom  he  had  set  over 
the  Middle-English,  received  baptism  and        g52 
teachers  from  Lindisfarne.      The  mission- 
aries of  the  new  faith  appeared  fearlessly 
com  OF  PENDA,  RULER  OF     among  the  Mercians  themselves,  and  Penda 

THE   MIDDLE  ANGLES,  ,   •      ,  TT        ,,  .11 

652-655.  gave  no  hindrance.     Heathen  to  the  last, 

he  stood  by  unheeding  if  any  were  willing 

to  hear ;  hating  and  scorning  with  a  certain  grand  sincerity 
of  nature  "  those  whom  he  saw  not  doing  the  works  of  the 
faith  they  had  received."  But  the  track  of  Northumbrian  mis- 
sionaries along  the  eastern  coast  marked  the  growth  of  North- 
umbrian overlordship,  and  the  old  man  roused  himself  for  a  last 
stroke  at.  his  foes.  On  the  death  of  Oswald  Oswiu  had  been  called 
to  fill  his  throne,  and  in  655  he  met  the  pagan  host  near  the 
river  Winwaed.  It  was  in  vain  that  the  Northumbrians  had  sought 
to  avert  Penda's  attack  by  offers  of  ornaments  and  costly  gifts. 
"  Since  the  pagans  will  not  take  our  gifts,"  Oswiu  cried  at  last,  655 
"  let  us  offer  them  to  One  that  will  ; "  and  he  vowed  that  if  success- 
ful he  would  dedicate  his  daughter  to  God  and  endow  twelve 
monasteries  in  his  realm.  Victory  at  last  declared  for  the  faith  of 
Christ.  The  river  over  which  the  Mercians  fled  was  swollen  with 
a  great  rain  ;  it  swept  away  the  fragments  of  the  heathen  host, 
Penda  himself  was  slain,  and  the  cause  of  the  older  gods  was  lost 
for  ever. 

The  terrible  struggle  was  followed  by  a  season  of  peace.    For     Oswiu 
four  years  after  the  battle  of  Winwaed  Mercia  was  subject  to  Oswiu's     642-670 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  Ill 

THE 
NORTH- 
UMBRIAN 
KINGDOM 

588 

TO 
685 


overlordship.  But  in  659  a  general  rising  of  the  people  threw  off 
the  Northumbrian  yoke.  The  heathendom  of  Mercia  however 
was  dead  with  Penda.  "  Being  thus  freed,"  Baeda  tells  us,  "  the 
Mercians  with  their  king  rejoiced  to  serve  the  true  King,  Christ." 
Its  three  provinces,  the  earlier  Mercia,  the  Middle-English,  and 
the  Lindiswaras,  were  united  in  the  bishopric  of  Ceadda,  the  St. 
Chad  to  whom  the  Mercian  see  of  Lichfield  still  looks  as  its  founder. 


MONASTIC  CELL,   SKELLIG  MICHAEL. 
Anderson,    "Scotland  in  Early  Christian    Times." 


Ceadda  was  a  monk  of  Lindisfarne,  so  simple  and  lowly  in  temper 
that  he  travelled  on  foot  on  his  long  mission  journeys,  till  Archbishop 
Theodore  in  later  days  with  his  own  hands  lifted  him  on  horse- 
back. The  poetry  of  Christian  enthusiasm  breaks  out  in  his  death- 
legend,  as  it  tells  us  how  voices  of  singers  singing  sweetly  descended 
from  Heaven  to  the  little  cell  beside  St.  Mary's  Church  where  the 
bishop  lay  dying.  Then  "the  same  song  ascended  from  the  roof 
again,  and  returned  heavenward  by  the  way  that  it  came."  It  was 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS 


49 


the  soul  of  his  brother,  the  missionary  Cedd,  come  with  a  choir 
of  angels  to  solace  the  last  hours  of  Ceadda.  In  Northumbria  the 
work  of  his  fellow  missionaries  has  almost  been  lost  in  the  glory 
of  Cuthbert.  No  story  better  lights  up  for  us  the  new  religious 
life  of  the  time  than  the  story  of  this  apostle  of  the  Lowlands.  It 
carries  us  at  its  outset  into  the  northernmost  part  of  Northumbria, 
the  country  of  the  Teviot  and  the  Tweed.  Born  on  the  Southern 
edge  of  the  Lammermoor,  Cuthbert  found  shelter  at  eight  years 
old  in  a  widow's  house  in  the  little  village  of  Wrangholm. 
Already  in  youth  there  was  a  poetic  sensibility  beneath  the  robust 
frame  of  the  boy  which  caught  even  in  the  chance  word  of  a  game 
a  call  to  higher  things.  Later  on,  a  traveller  coming  in  his  white 
mantle  over  the  hillside  and  stopping  his  horse  to  tend  Cuthbert's 


SEC.  Ill 

THE 
NORTH- 
UMBRIAN 
KINGDOM 


TO 
685 


ORATORY     AT     GALLARUS,     CO.      K  K  R  R  Y. 
Stakes,  "Early  Christian  Art  in  Ireland." 


injured  knee  seemed  to  him  an  angel.  The  boy's  shepherd  life 
carried  him  to  the  bleak  upland,  still  famous  as  a  sheep-walk, 
though  the  scant  herbage  scarce  veils  the  whinstone  rock,  and  there 
meteors  plunging  into  the  night  became  to  him  a  company  of 
angelic  spirits,  carrying  the  soul  of  Bishop  Aidan  heavenward. 
VOL.  1—4 


HISTORY    CF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  Ill 

THE 

NORTH- 
UMBRIAN 
KINGDOM 


Slowly  Cuthbcrt's  longings  settled  into  a  resolute  will  towards  a 
religious  life,  and  he  made  his  way  at  last  to  a  group  of  log-shanties 


»^1\     ** 

•<£QJ     <*>  *&to~EDS*tfii 

Qi»«W     /  /^*JS^a»S^ 


in  the  midst  of  an  untilled  solitude  where  a  few  Irish  monks  from 
Lindisfarne  had  settled  in  the  mission-station  of  Melrose.     To-day 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS 


the  land  is  a  land  of  poetry  and  romance.  Cheviot  and  Lammermoor, 
Ettrick  and  Teviotdale,  Yarrow  and  Annan-water,  are  musical 
with  old  ballads  and  border  minstrelsy.  Agriculture  has  chosen 
its  valleys  for  her  favourite  seat,  and  drainage  and  steam-power 
have  turned  sedgy  marshes  into  farm  and  meadow.  But  to  see  the 
Lowlands  as  they  were  in  Cuthbert's  day  we  must  sweep  meadow 
and  farm  away  again,  and  replace  them  by  vast  solitudes,  dotted 
here  and  there  with  clusters  of  wooden  hovels,  and  crossed  by  boggy 
tracks  over  which  travellers  rode  spear  in  hand' and  eye  kept 
cautiously  about  them.  The  Northumbrian  peasantry  among  whom 
he  journeyed  were  for  the 
most  part  Christians  only 
in  name.  With  Teutonic  in- 
difference they  had  yielded 
to  their  thegns  in  nominally 
accepting  the  new  Chris- 
tianity, as  these  had  yielded 
to  the  king.  But  they  re- 
tained their  old  superstitions 
side  by  side  with  the  new 
worship  ;  plague  or  mishap 
drove  them  back  to  a  reli- 
ance on  their  heathen  charms 
and  amulets  ;  and  if  trouble 
befell  the  Christian  preachers 
who  came  settling  amon^ 

o  o 

them   they  took  it  as  proof 

of  the  wrath  of  the  older  gods.  When  some  log-rafts  which  were 
floating  down  the  Tyne  for  the  construction  of  an  abbey  at  ks 
mouth  drifted  with  the  monks  who  were  at  work  on  them  out  to 
sea,  the  rustic  bystanders  shouted,  "  Let  nobody  pray  for  them  ;  let 
nobody  pity  these  men,  who  have  taken  away  from  us  our  old 
worship  ;  and  how  their  new-fangled  customs  are  to  be  kept  nobody 
knows."  On  foot,  on  horseback,  Cuthbert  wandered  among  listeners 
such  as  these,  choosing  above  all  the  remoter  mountain  villages  from 
whose  roughness  and  poverty  other  teachers  turned  aside.  Unlike 
his  Irish  comrades,  he  needed  no  interpreter  as  he  passed  from 
village  to  village  ;  the  frugal,  long-headed  Northumbrians  listened 


BEI.L  OF  CUMASCACH  MAC  AILLELLO,  STEWARD 

OF  ARMAGH,    END  OF   NINTH   CENTURY. 

Stokes,  "  Early  Christian  Art  in  Ireland." 


SEC.  Ill 

THE 

NORTH- 
UMBRIAN 
KINGDOM 
588 

TO 
685 


52  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  in      willingly  to  one  who  was  himself  a  peasant  of  the  Lowlands,  and  who 
THE        had  caught  the  rough  Northumbrian  burr  along  the  banks  of  the 

NORTH- 

KI'NGDOM     Tweed.      His  patience,  his  humorous  good  sense,  the  sweetness  of 
588        his  look,  told  for  him,  and  not  less  the  stout  vigorous  frame  which 

TO 

685  fitted  the  peasant-preacher  for  the  hard  life  he  had  chosen.  "  Never 
did  man  die  of  hunger  who  served  God  faithfully,"  he  would  say, 
when  nightfall  found  them  supperless  in  the  waste.  "  Look  at  the 
eagle  overhead!  God  can  feed  us  through  him  if  lie  will  "- 
and  once  at  least  he  owed  his  meal  to  a  fish  that  the  scared  bird 
let  fall.  A  snow-storm  drove  his  boat  on  the  coast  of  Fife.  "  The 
snow  closes  the  road  along  the  shore,"  mourned  his  comrades  ; 
"  the  storm  bars  our  way  over  sea."  "  There  is  still  the  way  of 
Heaven  that  lies  open,"  said  Cuthbert. 

Csedmon  While  missionaries  were  thus  labouring  among  its  peasantry, 
Northumbria  saw  the  rise  of  a  number  of  monasteries,  not  bound 
indeed  by  the  strict  ties  of  the  Benedictine  rule,  but  gathered  on 
the  loose  Celtic  model  of  the  family  or  the  clan  round  some  noble 
and  wealthy  person  who  sought  devotional  retirement.  The  most 
notable  and  wealthy  of  these  houses  was  that  of  Streoneshealh, 
where  Hild,  a  woman  of  royal  race,  reared  her  abbey  on  the 
summit  of  the  dark  cliffs  of  Whitby,  looking  out  over  the  Northern 
Sea.  Her  counsel  was  sought  even  by  nobles  and  kings  ;  and  the 
double  monastery  over  which  she  ruled  became  a  seminary  of 
bishops  and  priests.  The  sainted  John  of  Beverley  was  among  her 

Before  680  scholars.  But  the  name  which  really  throws  glory  over  Whitby 
is  the  name  of  a  lay-brother  from  whose  lips  flowed  the  first  great 
English  song.  Though  well  advanced  in  years,  Caedmon  had 
learnt  nothing  of  the  art  of  verse,  the  alliterative  jingle  so  common 
among  his  fellows,  "  wherefore  being  sometimes  at  feasts,  when  all 
agreed  for  glee's  sake  to  sing  in  turn,  he  no  sooner  saw  the  harp 
come  towards  him  than  he  rose  from  the  board  and  turned  home- 
wards. Once  when  he  had  done  thus,  and  gone  from  the  feast  to 
the  stable  where  he  had  that  night  charge  of  the  cattle,  there 
appeared  to  him  in  his  sleep  One  who  said,  greeting  him  by  name, 
'  Sing,  Caedmon,  some  song  to  Me.'  '  I  cannot  sing,'  he  answered  ; 
'  for  this  cause  left  I  the  feast  and  came  hither.'  He  who  talked 
with  him  answered,  '  However  that  be,  you  shall  sing  to  Me.' 
'  What  shall  I  sing  ? '  rejoined  Caedmon.  '  The  beginning  of  created 


i  THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS  53 

things,'  replied   He.      In  the  morning  the  cowherd  stood  before      SEC.  in 
Hild  and  told  his  dream.     Abbess  and  brethren  alike  concluded        THE 

NORTH- 

'  that  heavenly  grace  had  been  conferred  on  him   by  the  Lord.'     JJMBRIAN 

*  KINGDOM 

They  translated  for  Caedmon  a  passage  in  Holy  Writ,  '  bidding  him,  588 
if  he  could,  put  the  same  into  verse.'  The  next  morning  he  gave  685 
it  them  composed  in  excellent  verse,  whereon  the  abbess,  under- 
standing the  divine  grace  in  the  man,  bade  him  quit  the  secular 
habit  and  take  on  him  the  monastic  life."  Piece  by  piece  the 
sacred  story  was  thus  thrown  into  C  tdmon's  poem.  "  He  sang  of 
the  creation  of  the  world,  of  the  origin  of  man,  and  of  all  the 
history  of  Israel ;  of  their  departure  from  Egypt  and  entering  into 
the  Promised  Land  ;  of  the  incarnation,  passion,  and  resurrection 
of  Christ,  and  of  His  ascension  ;  of  the  terror  of  future  judgment, 
the  horror  of  hell-pangs,  and  the  joys  of  heaven." 

To  men  of  that  day  this  sudden  burst  of  song  seemed  a  thing  English 
necessarily  divine.  "  Others  after  him  strove  to  compose  religious 
poems,  but  none  could  vie  with  him,  for  he  learned  the  art  of 
poetry  not  from  men  nor  of  men,  but  from  God."  It  was  not 
indeed  that  any  change  had  been  wrought  by  Caedmon  in  the 
outer  form  of  English  song.  The  collection  of  poems  which  is 
connected  with  his  name  has  come  down  to  us  in  a  later  West- 
Saxon  version,  and  though  modern  criticism  is  still  in  doubt  as  to 
their  authorship,  they  are  certainly  the  work  of  various  hands. 
The  verse,  whether  of  Caedmon  or  of  other  singers,  is  accented  and 
alliterative,  without  conscious  art  or  development  or  the  delight 
that  springs  from  reflection,  a  verse  swift  and  direct,  but  leaving 
behind  it  a  sense  of  strength  rather  than  of  beauty,  obscured  too  by 
harsh  metaphors  and  involved  construction.  But  it  is  eminently 
the  verse  of  warriors,  the  brief  passionate  expression  of  brief 
passionate  emotions.  Image  after  image,  phrase  after  phrase,  in 
these  early  poems,  start  out  vivid,  harsh,  and  emphatic.  The  very 
metre  is  rough  with  a  sort  of  self-violence  and  repression  ;  the 
verses  fall  like  sword-strokes  in  the  thick  of  battle.  The  love  of 
natural  description,  the  background  of  melancholy  which  gives  its 
pathos  to  English  verse,  the  poet  only  shared  with  earlier  singers. 
But  the  faith  of  Christ  brought  in,  as  we  have  seen,  new  realms  of 
fancy.  The  legends  of  the  heavenly  light,  Baeda's  story  of  "  The 
Sparrow,"  show  the  side  of  English  temperament  to  which 


TO 


54  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  in      Christianity  appealed  —  its  sense  of  the  vague,  vast  mystery  of  the 
THE       world  and  of  man,  its  dreamy  revolt  against  the  narrow  bounds  of 

NORTH- 

experience  and  life.  It  was  this  new  poetic  world  which  combined 
with  the  old  in  the  so-called  epic  of  Caedmon.  In  its  various 
685  poems  the  vagueness  and  daring  of  the  Teutonic  imagination  pass 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  Hebrew  story  to  a  "  swart  hell  without 
light  and  full  of  flame,"  swept  only  at  dawn  by  the  icy  east  wind,  on 
whose  floor  lie  bound  the  apostate  angels.  The  human  energy  of 
the  German  race,  its  sense  of  the  might  of  individual  manhood, 
transformed  in  English  verse  the  Hebrew  Tempter  into  a  rebel 
Satan,  disdainful  of  vassalage  to  God.  "  I  may  be  a  God  as  He," 
Satan  cries  amidst  his  torments.  "  Evil  it  seems  to  me  to  cringe 
to  Him  for  any  good."  Even  in  this  terrible  outburst  of  the  fallen 
spirit  we  catch  the  new  pathetic  note  which  the  northern  melan- 
choly was  to  give  to  our  poetry.  "  This  is  to  me  the  chief  of 
sorrow,  that  Adam,  wrought  of  earth,  should  hold  my  strong  seat 
—  should  dwell  in  joy  while  we  endure  this  torment.  Oh,  that  fo»- 
one  winter  hour  I  had  power  with  my  hands,  then  with  this  host 
would  I  —  but  around  me  lie  the  iron  bonds,  and  this  chain  galls 
me."  On  the  other  hand  the  enthusiasm  for  the  Christian  God, 
faith  in  whom  had  been  bought  so  dearly  by  years  of  desperate 
struggle,  breaks  out  in  long  rolls  of  sonorous'  epithets  of  praise  and 
adoration.  The  temper  of  the  poets  brings  them  near  to  the 
earlier  fire  and  passion  of  the  Hebrew,  as  the  events  of  their  time 
brought  them  near  to  the  old  Bible  history  with  its  fights  and 
wanderings.  "  The  wolves  sing  their  dread  evensong  ;  the  fowls  of 
war,  greedy  of  battle,  dewy-feathered,  scream  around  the  host  of 
Pharaoh,"  as  wolf  howled  and  eagle  screamed  round  the  host  of 
Penda.  Everywhere  we  mark  the  new  grandeur,  depth,  and 
fervour  of  tone  which  the  German  race  was  to  give  to  the  religion 
of  the  East. 

Synod  of  But  even  before  Caedmon  had  begun  to  sing,  the  Christian 
W  by  Church  of  Northumbria  was  torn  in  two  by  a  strife  whose  issue  was 
decided  in  the  same  abbey  of  Whitby  where  Caedmon  dwelt.  The 
labours  of  Aidan,  the  victories  of  Oswald  and  Oswiu,  seemed  to 
have  annexed  England  to  the  Irish  Church.  The  monks  of  Lindis- 
farne,  or  of  the  new  religious  houses  whose  foundation  followed 
that  of  Lindisfarne,  looked  for  their  ecclesiastical  tradition,  not 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS 


55 


to  Rome  but  to  Ireland  ;  and  quoted  for  their  guidance  the 
instructions,  not  of  Gregory,  but  of  Columba.  Whatever  claims 
of  supremacy  over  the  whole  English  Church  might  be  pressed 
by  the  see  of  Canterbury,  the  real  metropolitan  of  the  Church  as 
it  existed  in  the  north  of  England  was  the  Abbot  of  lona.  But 
Oswiu's  queen  brought  with  her  from  Kent  the  loyalty  of  the 
Kentish  Church  to  the  Roman  See,  and  a  Roman  party  at  once 
formed  about  her.  Her  efforts  were  seconded  by  those  of  two 
young  thegns  whose  love  of  Rome  mounted  to  a  passionate 
fanaticism.  The  life  of  Wilfrid  of  York  was  a  series  of  flights 
to  Rome  and  returns  to  England,  of  wonderful  successes  in 
pleading  the  right  of  Rome  to  the  obedience  of  the  Church  of 
Northumbria,  and  of  as  wonderful  defeats.  Benedict  Biscop 
worked  towards  the  same  end  in  a  quieter  fashion,  coming 
backwards  and  forwards  across  the  sea  with  books  and  relics  and 
cunning  masons  and  painters  to  rear  a  great  church  and  monas- 
tery at  Wearmouth,  whose  brethren  owned  obedience  to  the 
Roman  See.  In  652  they  first  set  out  for  a  visit  to  the  imperial 
city ;  and  the  elder,  Benedict  Biscop,  soon  returned  to  preach 
ceaselessly  against  the  Irish  usages.  He  was  followed  by  Wilfrid, 
whose  energy  soon  brought  the  quarrel  to  a  head.  The  strife 
between  the  two  parties  rose  so  high  at  last 
that  Oswiu  was  prevailed  upon  to  summon  in 
664  a  great  council  at  Whitby,  where  the  future 
ecclesiastical  allegiance  of  England  should  be 
decided.  The  points  actually  contested  were 
trivial  enough.  Colman,  Aidan's  successor  at 
Holy  Island,  pleaded  for  the  Irish  fashion  of 
the  tonsure,  and  for  the  Irish  time  of  keeping 
Easter;  Wilfrid  pleaded  for  the  Roman.  The 
one  disputant  appealed  to  the  authority  of 
Columba,  the  other  to  that  of  St.  Peter.  "  You 
own,"  cried  the  king  at  last  to  Colman,  "  that 
Christ  gave  to  Peter  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven — has  He  given  such  power  to  Columba  ? " 
The  bishop  could  but  answer  "  No."  "  Then  will 
I  rather  obey  the  porter  of  Heaven,"  said  Oswiu,  "  lest  when  I 
reach  its  gates  he  who  has  the  keys  in  his  keeping  turn  his 


OLD    ENGLISH 

CLASPS. 

Alterman,  "  Pagan 
Saxondoin." 


SEC.  Ill 

THE 
NORTH- 
UMBRIAN 
KINGDOM 
588 

TO 
685 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  in 


THE 

NORTH- 


588 

TO 
685 


back  on  me,  and  there  be  none  to  open."  The  importance  of 
Oswiu's  judgment  was  never  doubted  at  Lindisfarne,  where 
Colman,  followed  by  the  whole  of  the  Irish-born  brethren  and 
thirty  of  their  English  fellows,  forsook  the  see  of  Aidan  and  sailed 
away  to  lona.  Trivial  in  fact  as  were  the  actual  points  of 
difference  which  severed  the  Roman  Church  from  the  Irish,  the 
question  to  which  communion  Northumbria  should  belong  was 


OLD    ENGLISH    NECKLACES. 

British  Museum. 


of  immense  moment  to  the  after  fortunes  of  England.  Had  the 
Church  of  Aidan  finally  won,  the  later  ecclesiastical  history  of 
England  would  probably  have  resembled  that  of  Ireland.  Devoid 
of  that  power  of  organization  which  was  the  strength  of  the 
Roman  Church,  the  Celtic  Church  in  its  own  Irish  home  took  the 
clan  system  of  the  country  as  the  basis  of  Church  government. 
Tribal  quarrels  and  ecclesiastical  controversies  became  inextricably 
confounded  ;  and  the  clergy,  robbed  of  all  really  spiritual  in- 
fluence, contributed  no  element  save  that  of  disorder  to  the 


i  THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS  57 

state.     Hundreds  of  wandering  bishops,  a  vast   religious  authority      SEC.  in 
wielded   by  hereditary   chieftains,  the   dissociation   of  piety    from        THE 

NORTH- 

morality,    the    absence    of    those    larger    and    more    humanizing;     ™BRIAN 

•  '  o       KINGDOM 

influences  which  contact  with  a   wider  world  alone  can  give,  this        588 
is  the  picture  which  the  Irish  Church  of  later  times  presents  to  us.        685 
It  was  from    such  a   chaos  as  this  that   England  was  saved  by 
the  victory  of  Rome  in  the  Synod  of  Whitby, 

The  Church  of  England,  as  we  know  it  to-day,  is  the  work,  so  Theodore 
far  as  its  outer  form  is  concerned,  of  a  Greek  monk,  Theodore  of  669-69° 
Tarsus,  whom  Rome,  after  her  victory  at  Whitby,  despatched  in 
669  as  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  to  secure  England  to  her  sway. 
Theodore's  work  was  determined  in  its  main  outlines  by  the  previous 
history  of  the  English  people.  The  conquest  of  the  Continent  had 
been  wrought  either  by  races  such  as  the  Goths,  who  were  already 
Christian,  or  by  heathens  lil:e  the  Franks,  who  bowed  to  the  Chris- 
tian faith  of  the  nations  they  conquered.  To  this  oneness  of  religion 
between  the  German  invaders  of  the  Empire  and  their  Roman 
subjects  was  owing  the  preservation  of  all  that  survived  of 
the  Roman  world.  The  Church  everywhere  remained  untouched. 
The  Christian  bishop  became  the  defender  of  the  conquered 
Italian  or  Gaul  against  his  Gothic  and  Lombard  conqueror,  the 
mediator  between  the  German  and  his  subjects,  the  one  bulwark 
against  barbaric  violence  and  oppression.  To  the  barbarian  on  the 
other  hand  he  was  the  representative  of  all  that  was  venerable  in 
the  past,  the  living  record  of  law,  of  letters,  and  of  art.  But  in 
Britain  priesthood  and  people  had  been  exterminated  together. 
When  Theodore  came  to  organize  the  Church  of  England,  the 
very  memory  of  the  older  Christian  Church  which  existed  in 
Roman  Britain  had  passed  away.  The  first  Christian  missionaries, 
strangers  in  a  heathen  land,  attached  themselves  necessarily  to  the 
courts  of  the  kings,  who  were  their  first  converts,  and  whose 
conversion  was  generally  followed  by  that  of  their  people.  The 
English  bishops  were  thus  at  first  royal  chaplains,  and  their  diocese 
was  naturally  nothing  but  the  kingdom.  The  kingdom  of  Kent 
became  the  diocese  of  Canterbury,  and  the  kingdom  of  Northum- 
bria  the  diocese  of  York.  In  this  way  too  realms  which  are  all 
but  forgotten  are  commemorated  in  the  limits  of  existing  sees. 
That  of  Rochester  represented  till  of  late  an  obscure  kingdom  of 


58  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  in  West  Kent,  and  the  frontier  of  the  original  kingdom  of  Mercia 
THE  might  be  recovered  by  following  the  map  of  the  ancient  bishopric 
KINGDOM  °^  Lichfield.  Theodore's  first  work  was  to  order  the  dioceses  ;  his 
588  second  was  to  add  many  new  sees  to  the  old  ones,  and  to  group  all 
685  of  them  round  the  one  centre  of  Canterbury.  All  ties  between 
England  and  the  Irish  Church  were  roughly  broken.  Lindisfarne 
sank  into  obscurity  with  the  flight  of  Colman  and  his  monks.  The 
new  prelates,  gathered  in  synod  after  synod,  acknowledged  the 
authority  of  their  one  primate.  The  organization  of  the  episcopate 
was  followed  during  the  next  hundred  years  by  the  development  of 
the  parish  system.  The  loose  system  of  the  mission-station,  the 
monastery  from  which  priest  and  bishop  went  forth  on  journey 
after  journey  to  preach  and  baptize,  as  Aidan  went  forth  from 
Lindisfarne  or  Cuthbert  from  Melrose,  naturally  disappeared  as 
the  land  became  Christian.  The  missionaries  became  settled 
clergy.  The  holding  of  the  English  noble  or  landowner  became 
the  parish,  and  his  chaplain  the  parish  priest,  as  the  king's  chaplain 
had  become  the  bishop,  and  the  kingdom  his  diocese.  A  source  of 
permanent  endowment  for  the  clergy  was  found  at  a  later  time 
in  the  revival  of  the  Jewish  system  of  tithes,  and  in  the  annual 
gift  to  Church  purposes  of  a  tenth  of  the  produce  of  the  soil  ;  while 
discipline  within  the  Church  itself  was  provided  for  by  an  elaborate 
code  of  sin  and  penance,  in  which  the  principle  of  compensation 
which  lay  at  the  root  of  Teutonic  legislation  crept  into  the  relations 
between  God  and  the  soul. 

Mercia  In  his    work    of   organization,    in  his  increase   of  bishoprics, 

Wulfhere  m  his  arrangement  of  dioceses,  and  the  way  in  which  he  grouped 
them  round  the  see  of  Canterbury,  in  his  national  synods  and 
ecclesiastical  canons,  Theodore  was  unconsciously  doing  a  political 
work.  The  old  divisions  of  kingdoms  and  tribes  about  him, 
divisions  which  had  sprung  for  the  most  part  from  mere  accidents 
of  the  conquest,  were  fast  breaking  down.  The  smaller  states 
were  by  this  time  practically  absorbed  by  the  three  larger  ones, 
and  of  these  three  Mercia  and  Wessex"  had  for  a  time  bowed  to 
the  overlordship  of  Northumbria.  The  tendency  to  national  unity 
which  was  to  characterize  the  new  England  had  thus  already  declared 
itself ;  but  the  policy  of  Theodore  clothed  with  a  sacred  form  and 
surrounded  with  divine  sanctions  a  unity  which  as  yet  rested  on  no 


THE     ENGLISH   KINGDOMS  59 


basis  but  the  sword.     The  single  throne  of  the   one  primate  at     SEC.  in 
Canterbury   accustomed    men's   minds   to   the  thought  of  a  single        THE 

NORTH- 

throne  for  their  one  temporal  overlord  at  York,  or,  as  in  later  days,  KINGDOM 
at  Lichfield  or  at  Winchester.  The  regular  subordination  of  priest  588 
to  bishop,  of  bishop  to  primate,  in  the  administration  of  the  Church,  685 
supplied  a  mould  on  which  the  civil  organization  of  the  state  quietly 
shaped  itself.  Above  all,  the  councils  gathered  by  Theodore  were 
the  first  of  all  national  gatherings  for  general  legislation.  It  was  at 
a  much  latter  time  that  the  Wise  Men  of  Wessex,  or  Northumbria,  or 
Mercia,  learned  to  come  together  in  the  Witenagemot  of  all  England. 
It  was  the  ecclesiastical  synods  which  by  their  example  led  the  way 
to  our  national  parliament,  as  it  was  the  canons  enacted  in  such 
synods  which  led  the  way  to  a  national  system  of  law.  But  if  the 
movement  towards  national  unity  was  furthered  by  the  centralizing 
tendencies  of  the  Church,  it  was  as  yet  hindered  by  the  upgrowth  of 
a  great  rival  power  to  contest  the  supremacy  with  Northumbria. 
Mercia,  as  we  have  seen,  had  recovered  from  the  absolute  subjection 
in  which  it  was  left  after  Penda's  fall  by  shaking  off  the  supremacy 
of  Oswiu  and  by  choosing  Wulfhere  for  its  king.  Wulfhere  was  a 
vigorous  and  active  ruler,  and  the  peaceful  reign  of  Oswiu  left  him 
free  to  build  up  again  during  the  sixteen  years  of  his  rule  the  power  659-675 
which  had  been  lost  at  Penda's  death.  Penda's  realm  in  Central 
Britain  was  quickly  restored,  and  Wulfhere's  dominion  extended 
even  over  the  Severn  and  embraced  the  lower  valley  of  the  Wye. 
He  had  even  more  than  his  father's  success.  After  a  great  victory 
in  661  over  the  West-Saxons,  his  ravages  were  carried  into  the 
heart  of  Wessex,  and  the  valley  of  the  Thames  opened  to  his 
army.  To  the  eastward,  the  East-Saxons  and  London  came  to 
own  his  supremacy  ;  while  southward  he  pushed  across  the  river  over 
Surrey.  In  the  same  year,  661,  Sussex,  perhaps  in  dread  of  the 
West-Saxons,  found  protection  in  accepting  Wulfhere's  overlordship, 
and  its  king  was  rewarded  by  a  gift  of  two  outlying  settlements  of 
the  Jutes,  the  Isle  of  Wight  and  the  lands  of  the  Meon-wara 
along  the  Southampton  Water,  which  we  must  suppose  had  been 
reduced  by  Mercian  arms.  The  Mercian  supremacy  which  thus 
reached  from  the  H  umber  to  the  Channel  and  stretched  westward 
to  the  Wye  was  the  main  political  fact  in  Britain  when  Theodore 
landed  on  its  shores.  In  fact,  with  the  death  of  Oswiu  in  670  all 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


THE 
NORTH- 
UMBRIAN 
KINGDOM 

588 

TO 
685 


SEC.  in      effort   was  finally  abandoned  by  Northumbria  to  crush  the  rival 
states  in  Central  or  Southern  Britain. 

The  industrial  progress  of  the  Mercian  kingdom  went  hand  in 
hand  with  its  military  advance.    The  forests  of  its  western  border, 
the  marshes  of  its  eastern  coast,  were  being  cleared  and  drained  by 
Progress    monastic  colonies,  whose  success  shows  the  hold  which  Christianity 
Mm-cia     had  now  gained  over  its  people.     Heathenism  indeed  still  held  its 
own  in  the  western  woodlands  ;  we  may  perhaps  see  Woden-wor- 
stiipping  miners  at  Alcester  in  the  daemons  of  the  legend  of  Bishop 
Ecgwine  of  Worcester,  who  drowned  the  preacher's  voice  with  the 
din  of  their  hammers.     But  in  spite  of  their  hammers  Ecgwine's 
preaching  left  one  lasting  mark  behind  it.    The  bishop  heard  how  a 
swineherd,  coming  out  from  the  forest  depths  on  a  sunny  glade, 
saw  forms  which  were  possibly  those  of  the  Three  Fair  Women  of 
the  old  German  mythology,  seated  round  a  mystic  bush,  and  sing- 
ing their  unearthly  song.    In  his  fancy  the  fair  women  transformed 
themselves  into  a  vision  of  the  Mother  of  Christ  ;  and  the  silent 
glade  soon  became  the  site  of  an  abbey  dedicated  to  her,  and  of 
a  town  which  sprang  up  under  its  shelter — the  Evesham  which 
was   to  be   hallowed   in  after  time  by  the   fall  of  Earl  Simon  of 
Leicester.   Wilder  even  than  the  western  woodland  was  the  desolate 
fen-country  on  the  eastern  border  of  the  kingdom,  stretching  from 
the  "  Holland,"  the  sunk,  hollow  land  of  Lincolnshire,  to  the  channel 
of  the  Ouse,  a  wilderness  of  shallow  waters  and  reedy  islets  wrapped 
in  its  own  dark  mist-veil  and  tenanted  only  by  flocks  of  screaming 
wild-fowl.     Here  through  the  liberality  of  King  Wulfhere  rose  the 
abbey  of  Medeshamstead,  our  later  Peterborough.    On  its  northern 
border  a  hermit,  Botulf,  founded  a  little  house  which  as  ages  went 
by  became  our  Botulf s  town  or  Boston.     The  Abbey  of  Ely  was 
founded  in  the  same  wild  fen-country  by  the  Lady  ^Ethelthryth, 
the  wife  of  King  Ecgfrith,  who  in  the  year  670  succeeded  Oswiu 
on  the  throne  of  Northumbria.    Here,  too,  Guthlac,  a  youth  of  the 
royal  race  of  Mercia,  sought  a  refuge  from  the  world  in  the  soli- 
tude of  Crowland,  and  so  great  was  the  reverence  he  won,  that  only 
two  years  had  passed  since  his  death  when  the  stately  abbey  of 
Crowland  rose  over  his  tomb.    Earth  was  brought  in  boats  to  form 
a  site  ;  the  buildings  rested  on  oaken  piles  driven  into  the  marsh 
a  stone  church  replaced  the  hermit's  cell,  and  the  toil  of  the  new 


brotherhood  changed  the  pools  around  them  into  fertile  meadow- 
land. 


i/ord  t  Ueograph{  Ettab? 


SEC.  Ill 

THE 
NORTH- 
UMBRIAN 
KINGDOM 

588 

TO 
685 


But    while    Mercia   was    building    up    its    dominion    in    Mid-  The  Fall 
Britain,  Northumbria   was    far    from   having   sunk    from    its   old     umbria 


62 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  Ill 
THE 

NOKTH- 
UMDRIAN 

588 
TO 
685 


655 


COIN    OF   ECGFRITH. 


renown  either  in  government  or  war.  Ecgfrith  had  succeeded 
his  father .  Oswiu  in  670,  and  made  no  effort  to  reverse  his 
policy,  or  attempt  to  build  up  arjain  a 
supremacy  over  the  states  of  southern 
Britain.  His  ambition  turned  rather  to 
conquests  over  the  Briton  than  to  victories 
over  his  fellow  Englishmen.  The  war 
between  Briton  and  Englishman,  which 

had  languished  since  the  battle  of  Chester,  had  been  revived 
some  twenty  years  before  by  an  advance  cf  the  West-Saxons 
to  the  south-west.  Unable  to  save  the  possessions  of  Wessex 
in  the  Severn  valley  and  on  the  Cotswolds  from  the  grasp  of 
Penda,  the  West-Saxon  king,  Cenwealh,  seized  the  moment 
when  Mercia  was  absorbed  in  the  last  struggle  of  Penda  against 
Northumbria  to  seek  for  compensation  in  an  attack  on  his 

Welsh  neighbours.  A  victory  at 
Bradford  on  the  Avon  enabled  him 
to  overrun  the  country  north  of 
Mendip  which  had  till  then  been 
held  by  the  Britons  ;  and  a  second 
campaign  in  658,  which  ended  in 
a  victory  on  the  skirts  of  the  great 
forest  that  covered  Somerset  to  the 
cast,  settled  the  West-Saxons  as 
conquerors  round  the  sources  of  the 
Parret.  It  may  have  been  the 
example  of  the  West-Saxons  which 
rpurred  Ecrjfrith  to  enlarge  the 
bounds  of  his  kingdom  by  a  series 
of  attacks  upon  his  British  neigh- 
bours in  the  west.  His  armies 
chased  the  Britons  from  southern 
Cumbria  and  made  the  districts  of 
Carlisle,  the  Lake  country,  and  our 
Lancashire  English  ground.  1 1  is 
success  in  this  quarter  was  quickly 

followed  by  fresh  gain  in  the  north,  where  he  pushed  his  con- 
quests over  the  Scots  beyond  Clydesdale,  and  subdued  the  Picts 


OGHAM    STONE    AT    NEWTON, 

ABERDEENSHIRE. 

Anderson,  "Scotland  in  Early  Christian 
Times. " 


I  THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS  63 

over  the  Firth  of  Forth,  so  that  their  territory  on  the  northern      SEC.  in 
bank  of  the  Forth  was  from  this  time  reckoned  as  Northumbrian        THE 
ground.     The  monastery  of  Abercorn  on  the  shore  of  the  Firth  of     ""BRIAN 

KINGDOM 

Forth,  in  which  a  few  years  later  a  Northumbrian  bishop,  Trumwine,        588 

fixed  the  seat  of  a  new  bishopric,  was  a  sign  of  the  subjection  of       685 

the  Picts  to  the  Northumbrian  overlordship.    Even  when  recalled     670-675 

from  the  wars  to  his  southern  border  by  an  attack  of  Wulfhere's 

in  675,  the  vigorous  and  warlike  Ecgfrith  proved  a  different  foe 

from    the    West-Saxon    or    the    Jute,  and  the  defeat  of  the  king 

of  Mercia  was  so  complete  that  he  was  glad  to  purchase  peace 

by  giving  up  to  his  conqueror   the  province  of  the  Lindiswaras 

or  Lincolnshire.     A  large  part  of  the  conquered  country  of  the 

Lake  district  was  bestowed  upon  the  see  of  Lindisfarne,  which 

was  at  this  time  filled  by  one  whom  we  have  seen  before  labouring 

as  the  Apostle  of  the  Lowlands.    After  years  of  mission  labour  at 

Melrose,  Cuthbert  had  quitted  it  for  Holy  Island,  and    preached 

among  the  moors  of  Northumberland  as  he  had  preached  beside 

the  banks  of  the  Tweed.     He  remained  there  through  the  great 

secession  which  followed  on  the   Synod  of  Whitby,  and  became 

prior  of  the  dwindled  company  of  brethren,  now  torn  with  endless 

disputes,  against  which  his  patience  and  good  humour  struggled 

in  vain.    Worn  out  at  last  he  fled  to  a  little  island  of  basaltic  rock, 

one  of  a  group  not  far  from  Ida's  fortress  of  Bamborough,  strewn 

for  the  most  part  with  kelp  and  seaweed,  the  home  of  the  gull  and 

the  seal.     In  the  midst  of  it  rose  his  hut  of  rough  stones  and  turf, 

dug  deep  into  the  rock  and  roofed  with  logs  and  straw. 

The  reverence  for  his  sanctity  dragged  Cuthbert  back  in  old 
age  to  fill  the  vacant  see  of  Lindisfarne.  He  entered  Carlisle, 
which  the  king  had  bestowed  upon  the  bishopric,  at  a  moment  684 
when  all  Northumbria  was  waiting  for  news  of  a  fresh  campaign 
of  Ecgfrith's  against  the  Britons  in  the  north.  The  power  of 
Northumbria  was  already  however  fatally  shaken.  In  the  south, 
Mercia  had  in  679  renewed  the  attempt  which  had  been  checked 
by  Wulfhere's  defeat.  His  successor,  the  Mercian  king  yEthelred 
again  seized  the  province  of  the  Lindiswaras,  and  the  war  he  thus 
began  with  Northumbria  was  only  ended  by  a  peace  negotiated 
through  Archbishop  Theodore,  which  left  him  master  of  Middle 
England.  Old  troubles  too  revived  on  Ecgfrith's  northern  frontier, 


64 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  Ill 

THE 

NORTH- 
UMBRIAN 
KINGDOM 
588 

TO 
685 


where  a  rising  of  the  Picts  forced  him  once  more  to  cross  the  Firth 
of  Forth,  and  march  in  the  year  685  into  their  land.  A  sense  of 
coming  ill  weighed  on  Northumbria,  and  its  dread  was  quickened 


DAVID   AND    HIS   CHOIR. 

Anglo-Irish  ;    Early  Eighth  Century. 

MS.  Cott.   Vesp.  A.  i. 


by  a  memory  of  the  curses  which  had  been  pronounced  by  the 
bishops  of  Ireland  on  the  king,  when  his  navy,  setting  out  a  year 
before  from  the  newly-conquered  western  coast,  swept  the  Irish 


1  THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS  65 

shores  in  a  raid  which  seemed  like  sacrilege  to  those  who  loved  the     SEC.  in 
home  of  Aidan  and  Columba.    As  Cuthbert  bent  over  a  Roman        THE 

NORTH- 

fountain  which  still  stood  unharmed  amongst  the  ruins  of  Carlisle      UMBRIAN 

KINGDOM 

the  anxious  bystanders  thought  they  caught   words    of  ill-omen        588 

TO 

falling  from  the  old  man's  lips.    "  Perhaps,"  he  seemed  to  murmur,        685 
"  at  this  very  hour  the  peril  of  the  fight  is  over  and  done."    "  Watch 
and  pray,"  he  said,  when  they  questioned  him  on  the  morrow  ; 
"watch  and  pray."    In  a  few  days  more  a  solitary  fugitive  escaped 
from  the  slaughter  told   that  the  Picts  had    turned    desperately 
to  bay  as  the  English  army  entered  Fife ;  and  that  Ecgfrith  and        685 
the  flower  of  his  nobles  lay,  a  ghastly  ring  of  corpses,  on  the  far- 
off  moorland  of  Nectansmere. 

To  Cuthbert  the  tidings  were  tidings  of  death.  His  bishopric  Death  o' 
was  soon  laid  aside,  and  two  months  after  his  return  to  his  island- 
hermitage  the  old  man  lay  dying,  murmuring  to  the  last  words 
of  concord  and  peace.  A  signal  of  his  death  had  been  agreed  upon, 
and  one  of  those  who  stood  by  ran  with  a  candle  in  each  hand 
to  a  place  whence  the  light  might  be  seen  by  a  monk  who  was 
looking  out  from  the  watchtower  of  Lindisfarne.  As  the  tiny  gleam 
flashed  over  the  dark  reach  of  sea,  and  the  watchman  hurried  with 
his  news  into  the  church,  the  brethren  of  Holy  Island  were  singing, 
as  it  chanced,  the  words  of  the  Psalmist :  "Thou  hast  cast  us  out 
and  scattered  us  abroad  ;  Thou  hast  also  been  displeased  ;  Thou 
hast  shown  thy  people  heavy  things  ;  Thou  hast  given  us  a  drink 
of  deadly  wine."  The  chant  was  the  dirge,  not  of  Cuthbert  only, 
but  of  his  Church  and  his  people.'  Over  both  hung  the  gloom  of 
a  seeming  failure.  Strangers  who  knew  not  lona  and  Columba 
entered  into  the  heritage  of  Aidan  and  Cuthbert.  As  the  Roman 
communion  folded  England  again  beneatli  her  wing,  men  forgot 
that  a  Church  which  passed  utterly  away  had  battled  with  Rome 
for  the  spiritual  headship  of  Western  Christendom,  and  that 
throughout  the  great  struggle  with  the  heathen  reaction  of  Mid- 
Britain  the  new  religion  had  its  centre  not  at  Canterbury,  but  at 
Lindisfarne.  Nor  were  men  long  to  remember  that  from  the  days  of 
^thelfrith  to  the  days  of  Ecgfrith  English  politics  had  found  their 
centre  at  York.  But  forgotten  or  no,  Northumbria  had  done  its 
work.  By  its  missionaries  and  by  its  sword  it  had  won  England  from 
heathendom  to  the  Christian  Church.  It  had  given  her  a  new  poetic 
VOL.  1—5 


66  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  iv  literature.     Its  monasteries  were  already  the  seat  of  whatever  in- 

THE  THREE  tellectual   life  the    country  possessed.     Above    all     it     had     first 

KINGDOMS 

685  gathered  together  into  a  loose  political  unity  the  various  tribes  of 

828  the  English  people,  and  by  standing  at  their  head  for  half  a  century 

~~.  had  accustomed  them  to  a  national  life,  out  of  which  England   as 
we  have  it  now,  was  to  spring. 


Section  IV.— The  Three  Kingdoms,  685—828. 

[Authorities. — A  few  incidents  of  Mercian  history  are  preserved  among  tha 
meagre  annals  of  Wessex,  which  form,  during  this  period,  "  The  English 
Chronicle."  But  for  the  most  part  we  are  thrown  upon  later  writers,  especially 
Henry  of  Huntingdon  and  William  of  Malmesbury,  both  authors  of  the  twelfth  ' 
century,  but  having  access  to  older  materials  now  lost.  The  letters  of  Boniface 
and  those  of  Alcuin,  which  form  the  most  valuable  contemporary  materials 
for  this  period,  are  given  by  Dr.  Giles  in  his  "  Patres  Ecclesiae  Anglicanae." 
They  have  also  been  carefully  edited  by  Jaffd  in  his  series  of  "  Monumenta 
Germanica."] 

Ine  of  The  supremacy  of  Northumbria  over  the  English  people  had 

Wessex    fauen   for  ever  wjth  the  death  of  Oswiu,  and  its  power  over  the 

688-726     tribes   of  the  north   was   as   completely   broken  by  the   death  of 

Ecgfrith  and  the  defeat  of  Nectansmere.    To  the  north,  the  flight 

of  Bishop  Trumwine  from  Abercorn  announced  the  revolt  of  the 

Picts  from  her  rule.    In  the  south,  Mercia  proved  a  formidable  rival 

under  ^Ethelred,  who  had  succeeded  Wulfhere  in  675.    Already  his 

kingdom  reached  from  the  H umber  to  the  Channel  ;  and  ^thelred 

o  ' 

in  the  first  years  of  his  reign  had  finally  reduced  Kent  beneath  his 
overlordship.  All  hope  of  national  union  seemed  indeed  at  an 
end,  for  the  revival  of  the  West-Saxon  power  at  this  moment 
completed  the  parting  of  the  land  into  three  states  of  nearly  equal 
power  out  of  which  it  seemed  impossible  that  unity  could  come. 
Since  their  overthrow  at  Faddiley,  a  hundred  years  before,  the  West- 
Saxons  had  been  weakened  by  anarchy  and  civil  war,  and  had  been 
at  the  mercy  alike  of  the  rival  English  states  and  of  the  Britons. 
We  have  seen  however  that  in  652  a  revival  of  power  had  enabled 
them  to  drive  back  the  Britons  to  the  Parret.  A  second  interval  of 
order  in  682  strengthened  King  Centwine  again  to  take  up  war 
with  the  Britons,  and  push  his  frontier  as  far  as  the  Ouantocks. 


S.    JOHN   THE    EVANGELIST 
From  the  Lindisfarne  Gospel-book  MS.  Cott.  Nero  D.  IV.  A.D.  720 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS  67 


A  third  rally  of  the  West-Saxons  in  685  under  Ceadwalla  enabled      SEC.  iv 
them  to  turn  on  their  English  enemies  and  conquer  Sussex.     Ine    THE  THREE 

KINGDOMS 

the    greatest  of  their  early  kings,  whose   reign  covered  the  long        685 
period  from  638  to  726,  carried  on  during  the  whole  of  it  the  war        828 
for  supremacy.    Eastward,  he  forced  Kent,  Essex  and  London  to        694 
own  his  rule.    On  the  west  he  pushed  his  way  southward  round  the 
marshes  of  the  Parret  to  a  more  fertile  territory,  and  guarded  the        710 
frontier   of  his    new  conquests   by  a  fortress  on  the  banks  of  the 
Tone,  which  has  grown   into  the  present   Taunton.     The  West- 
Saxons  thus  became  masters  of  the  whole  district  which  now  bears 
the  name   of  Somerset,  the  land   of  the    Somersaetas,  where  the 
Tor  rose  like  an  island  out  of  a  waste  of  flood-drowned  fen  that 
stretched  westward   to  the  Channel.    At  the  base  of  this  hill  Ine 
established  on  the  site  of  an  older  British  foundation  his  famous 
monastery  of  Glastonbury.    The  little  hamlet  in  which  it  stood  took 
its  English  name  from  one  of  the  English  families,  the  Glaestings, 
who  chose  the  spot  for  their  settlement  ;  but  it  had  long  been  a 
religious   shrine   of  the   Britons,   and   the  tradition  that  a  second 
Patrick  rested  there  drew  thither  the  wandering  scholars  of  Ireland. 
The  first  inhabitants  of  Ine's  abbey  found,  as  they  alleged,  "an 
ancient  church,  built  by   no   art  of  man  ;"  and   beside  this  relic 
of  its  older  Welsh  owners,  Ine  founded  his  own  abbey-church  of 
stone.     The  spiritual  charge  of  his  conquests  he  committed  to  his 
kinsman    Ealdhelm,    the    most   famous   scholar   of  his   day,   who 
became  the  first  bishop  of  the  new  see  of  Sherborne,  which  the  king 
formed  out  of  the  districts  west  of  Selwood  and  the  Frome,  to  meet 
the  needs  of  the  new  parts  of  his  kingdom.     Ine's  code,  the  earliest 
collection  of  West-Saxon  laws  which  remains  to  us,  shows  a  wise 
solicitude  to  provide  for  the  civil  as  well  as  the  ecclesiastical  needs 
of  the  mixed  population  over  which  he  now  ruled.     His  repulse  of 
the  Mercians,  when  they  at  last  attacked  Wessex,  proved  how  well 
he  could  provide  for  its  defence.     ^Ethelred's  reign  of  thirty  years 
was  one  of  almost  unbroken  peace,  and  his  activity  mainly  showed 
itself  in  the  planting  and  endowment  of  monasteries,  which  gradu- 
ally changed  the  face  of  the  realm.     Ceolred  however,  who  in  709 
became  king  of  Mercia,  took   up  the    strife  with   \Vcssex  for  the 
overlordship  of  the  south,  and  in  715  he  marched  into  the  very 
heart  of  Wessex  ;  but  he  was  repulsed  in  a  bloody  encounter  at        715 


68 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  iv     Wanborough.     Able  however  as  Ine  was  to  hold  Mercia  at  bay,  he 
THE  THREE  Was  unable  to  hush  the  civil  strife  that  was  the  curse  of  Wesscx, 

KINGDOMS 

and  a  wild  legend  tells  the  story  of  the  disgust  which  drove  him 
from  the  world.  He  had  feasted  royally  at  one  of  his  country 
houses,  and  on  the  morrow,  as  he  rode'  from  it,  his  queen  bade  him 
turn  back  thither.  The  king  returned  to  find  his  house  stripped  of 
curtains  and  vessels,  and  foul  with  refuse  and  the  dung  of  cattle, 


685 

TO 
828 


CHURCH   AT   BRADFORD   ON   AVON,    BUILT   BY  EALDHELM. 
"Journal  of  Archcfolo^ical  Association." 


;Ethel- 
bald  of 
Mercia 

716-757 


while  in  the  royal  bed  where  he  had  slept  with  ^thelburh  rested  a 
sow  with  her  farrow  of  pigs.  The  scene  had  no  need  of  the  queen's 
comment :  "  See,  my  lord,  how  the  fashion  of  this  world  passeth 
away!"  In  726  Ine  laid  down  his  crown,  and  sought  peace  and 
death  in  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome. 

The  anarchy  that  had  driven  Ine  from  the  throne  broke  out  on 
his  departure  in  civil  strife  which  left  Wessex  an  easy  prey  to  the 
successor  of  Ceolred.  Among  those  who  sought  Guthlac's  retire- 
ment at  Crowland  came  ^thelbald,  a  son  of  Penda's  brother,  flying 


i  THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS  69 

from   Ceolred's  hate.     Driven  off  again  and  again  by  the  king's      SEC.  iv 
pursuit,  ^Ethelbald  still  returned  to  the  little  hut  he  had  built  beside   THE~riiREB 

KINGDOMS 

the  hermitage,  and  comforted  himself  in  hours  of  despair  with  his  685 
companion's  words.  "  Know  how  to  wait,"  said  Guthlac,  "  and  the  828 
kingdom  will  come  to  thee  ;  not  by  violence  or  rapine,  but  by  the 
hand  of  God."  In  716  Ceolred  fell  frenzy-smitten  at  his  board,  and 
Mercia  chose  ^Ethebald  for  its  king.  For  the  first  ten  years  of  his 
reign  he  shrank  from  a  conflict  with  the  victor  of  Wanborough  ;  but 
with  Ine's  withdrawal  he  took  up  again  the  fierce  struggle  with 
Wessex  for  the  complete  supremacy  of  the  south.  He  penetrated 
into  the  very  heart  of  the  West-Saxon  kingdom,  and  his  siege  and 
capture  of  the  royal  town  of  Somerton  in  733  ended  the  war.  For 
twenty  years  the  overlordship  of  Mercia  was  recognized  by  all 
Britain  south  of  the  Humber.  It  was  at  the  head  of  the  forces,  not 
of  Mercia  only,  but  of  East  Anglia  and  Kent,  as  well  as  of  the  West- 
Saxons,  that  ^thelbald  marched  against  the  Welsh  ;  and  he  styled 
himself  "  King  not  of  the  Mercians  only,  but  of  all  the  neighbour- 
ing peoples  who  are  called  by  the  common  name  of  Southern 
English."  But  the  aim  of  ^Ethelbald  was  destined  to  the  same 
failure  as  that  of  his  predecessors.  For  twenty  years  indeed  he 
met  the  constant  outbreaks  of  his  new  subjects  with  success  ;  and 
it  was  not  till  754  that  a  general  rising  forced  him  to  call  his  whole 
strength  to  the  field.  At  the  head  of  his  own  Mercians  and  of  the 
subject  hosts  of  Kent,  Essex,  and  East  Anglia,  ./Ethelbald  marched 
to  the  field  of  Burford,  where  the  West-Saxons  were  again  marshalled 
under  the  golden  dragon  of  their  race  :  but  after  hours  of  des- 
perate fighting  in  the  forefront  of  the  battle,  a  sudden  panic  seized 
the  Mercian  king,  and  the  supremacy  of  Mid-Britain  passed  away 
for  ever  as  he  fled  first  of  his  army  from  the  field.  Three  years 
later  he  was-surprised  and  slain  in  a  night  attack  by  his  ealdormen  ; 
and  in  the  anarchy  that  followed,  Kent,  Essex,  and  East  Anglia 
threw  off  the  yoke  of  Mercia. 

While  the  two  southern  kingdoms  were  wasting  their  energies      Baeda 
in  this  desperate  struggle,  Northumbria  had  set  aside  its  efforts  at     673~735 
conquest  for  the  pursuits  of  peace.     Under  the  reigns  of  Ecgfrith's 
successors,  Aldfrith  the  Learned  and  the  four  kings  who  followed 
him,  the  kingdom  became  in  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century  the 
literary  centre  of  Western  Europe.     No  schools  were  more  famous 


-p  IJUGXS  UTculflS  7 


secuu  dutn  luccon 

*  ^>« 


BEGINNING  OF   S.    LUKE  S  GOSPEL. 
Lindisfarne  Gospel-book.     MS.  Coit.  Nero  D.  a>. 


CHAP,  i  THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS  71 

than  those  of  Jarrow  and  York.     The  whole  learning  of  the  age      SEC.  iv 
seemed   to  be  summed  up  in  a  Northumbrian  scholar.     Baeda  —  THE  THREE 

KINGDOMS 

the  Venerable  Bede,  as  later  times  styled  him  —  was  born  in  673,  685 
nine  years  after  the  Synod  of  Whitby,  on  ground  which  passed  a 
year  later  to  Benedict  Biscop  as  th3  site  of  the  great  abbey  which 
he  reared  by  the  mouth  of  the  Wear.  His  youth  was  trained  and 
his  long  tranquil  life  was  wholly  spent  in  an  off-shoot  of  Benedict's 
house  which  was  founded  by  his  friend  Ceolfrid.  Baeda  never 
stirred  from  Jarrow.  "  I  have  spent  my  whole  life  in  the  same 
monastery,"  he  says,  "  and  while  attentive  to  the  rule  of  my  order 
and  the  service  of  the  Church  my  constant  pleasure  lay  in  learning, 
or  teaching,  or  writing."  The  words  sketch  for  us  a  scholar's  life, 
the  more  touching  in  its  simplicity  that  it  is  the  life  of  the  first  great 
English  scholar.  The  quiet  grandeur  of  a  life  consecrated  to 
knowledge,  the  tranquil  pleasure  that  lies  in  learning  and  teaching 
and  writing,  dawned  for  Englishmen  in  the  story  of  Baeda.  While 
still  young,  he  became  teacher  ;  and  six  hundred  monks,  besides 
strangers  that  flocked  thither  for  instruction,  formed  his  school  of 
Jarrow.  It  is  hard  to  imagine  how  among  the  toils  of  the  school- 
master and  the  duties  of  the  monk  Baeda  could  have  found  time  for 
the  composition  of  the  numerous  works  that  made  his  name  famous 
in  the  west.  But  materials  for  study  had  accumulated  in  North- 
umbria  through  the  journeys  of  Wilfrid  and  Benedict  Biscop  and 
the  libraries  which  were  forming  at  Wearmouth  and  York.  The 
tradition  of  the  older  Irish  teachers  still  lingered  to  direct  the  young 
scholar  into  that  path  of  Scriptural  interpretation  to  which  he 
chiefly  owed  his  fame.  Greek,  a  rare  accomplishment  in  the  west, 
came  to  him  from  the  school  which  the  Greek  Archbishop  Theodore 
founded  beneath  the  walls  of  Canterbury.  His  skill  in  the  eccle- 
siastical chant  was  derived  from  a  Roman  cantor  whom  Pope 
Vitalian  sent  in  the  train  of  Benedict  Biscop.  Little  by  little  the 
young  scholar  thus  made  himself  master  of  the  whole  range  of  the 
science  of  his  time  ;  he  became,  as  Burke  rightly  styled  him,  "  the 
father  of  English  learning."  The  tradition  of  the  older  classic 
culture  was  first  revived  for  England  in  his  quotations  of  Plato  and 
Aristotle,  of  Seneca  and  Cicero,  of  Lucretius  and  Ovid.  Virgil 
cast  over  him  the  same  spell  that  he  cast  over  Dante  ;  verses  from 
the  JEneid  break  his  narratives  of  martyrdoms,  and  the  disciple 


DAVID,    AS    PSALMIST. 
MS.  traditionally  ascribed  to  Eieda,  in  Durham  Cathedral  Library- 


CHAP,  i  THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS 


73 


ventures   on  the   track  of  the   great    master   in    a   little   eclogue      SEC.  iv 
descriptive  of  the  approach  of  spring.     His  work  was  done  with  THE  THREE 

KINGDOMS 

small  aid  from  others.  "  I  am  my  own  secretary,"  he  writes  ;  "  I  685 
make  my  own  notes.  I  am  my  own  librarian."  But  forty-five  works  828 
remained  after  his  death  to  attest  his  prodigious  industry.  In  his 
own  eyes  and  those  of  his  contemporaries  the  most  important 
among  these  were  the  commentaries  and  homilies  upon  various 
books  of  the  Bible  which  he  had  drawn  from  the  writings  of  the 
Fathers.  But  he  was  far  from  confining  himself  to  theology.  In 
treatises  compiled  as  text-books  for  his  scholars  Baeda  threw 
together  all  that  the  world  had  then  accumulated  in  astronomy  and 
meteorology,  in  physics  and  music,  in  philosophy,  grammar,  rhetoric, 
arithmetic,  medicine.  But  the  encyclopaedic  character  of  his 
researches  left  him  in  heart  a  simple  Englishman.  He  loved  his 
own  English  tongue ;  he  was  skilled  in  English  song ;  his  last 
work  was  a  translation  into  English  of  the  Gospel  of  St.  John,  and 
almost  the  last  words  that  broke  from  his  lips  were  some  English 
rimes  upon  death. 

But  the  noblest  proof  of  his  love  of  England  lies  in  the  work  Death  of 
which  immortalizes  his  name.  In  his  "  Ecclesiastical  History  of  the 
English  Nation  "  Baeda  became  the  first  English  historian.  All 
that  we  really  know  of  the  century  and  a  half  that  follows  the 
landing  of  Augustine  we  know  from  him.  Wherever  his  own  per- 
sonal observation  extended  the  story  is  told  with  admirable  detail 
and  force.  He  is  hardly  less  full  or  accurate  in  the  portions  which 
he  owed  to  his  Kentish  friends,  Albinus  and  Nothelm.  What  he 
owed  to  no  informant  was  his  own  exquisite  faculty  of  story-telling, 
and  yet  no  story  of  his  own  telling  is  so  touching  as  the  story  of  his 
death.  Two  weeks  before  the  Easter  of  735  the  old  man  was  seized 
with  an  extreme  weakness  and  loss  of  breath.  He  still  preserved, 
however,  his  usual  pleasantness  and  good  humour,  and  in  spite  of 
prolonged  sleeplessness  continued  his  lectures  to  the  pupils  about 
him.  Verses  of  his  own  English  tongue  broke  from  time  to  time 
from  the  master's  lips — rude  rimes  that  told  how  before  the  "  need- 
fare,"  Death's  stern  "  must  go,"  none  can  enough  bethink  him  what 
is  to  be  his  doom  for  good  or  ill.  The  tears  of  Baeda's  scholars 
mingled  with  his  song.  "  We  never  read  without  weeping,"  writes 
one  of  them.  So  the  days  rolled  on  to  Ascensiontide,  and  still 


74  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP,  i 

SEC.  iv      master  and  pupils  toiled  at  their  work,  for  Bcda  longed  to  bring  to 
THE  THREE  an  end  his  version  of  St.  John's  Gospel  into  the  English  tongue, 

KINGDOMS 

685        and  his  extracts  from  Bishop  Isidore.     "I  don't  want  my  boys  to 

TO 

828  read  a  lie,"  he  answered  those  who  would  have  had  him  rest,  "  or 
to  work  to  no  purpose  after  I  am  gone."  A  few  days  before 
Ascensiontide  his  sickness  grew  upon  him,  but  he  spent  the  whole 
day  in  teaching,  only  saying  cheerfully  to  his  scholars,  "  Learn  with 
what  speed  you  may  ;  I  know  not  how  long  I  may  last."  The 
dawn  broke  on  another  sleepless  night,  and  again  the  old  man 
called  his  scholars  round  him  and  bade  them  write.  "  There  is  still 
a  chapter  wanting,"  said  the  scribe,  as  the  morning  drew  on,  "  and 
it  is  hard  for  thee  to  question  thyself  any  longer."  "  It  is  easily 
done,"  said  Baeda  ;  "  take  thy  pen  and  write  quickly."  Amid 
tears  and  farewells  the  day  wore  away  to  eventide.  "  There  is  yet 
one  sentence  unwritten,  dear  master, "  said  the  boy.  "  Write  it 
quickly,"  bade  the  dying  man.  "It  is  finished  now,"  said  the  little 
scribe  at  last.  "  You  speak  truth, "  said  the  master  ;  "  all  is  -finished 
now."  Placed  upon  the  pavement,  his  head  supported  in  his 
scholars'  arms,  his  face  turned  to  the  spot  where  he  was  wont  to 
pray,  Baeda  chanted  the  solemn  "  Glory  to  God."  As  his  voice 
reached  the  close  of  his  song  he  passed  quietly  away. 

Anarchy          First  among  English  scholars,  first  among  English  theologians, 
of  North-     - 
umbria     first  among  English  historians,  it  is  in  the  monk  of  Jarrow  that 

English  literature  strikes  its  roots.  In  the  six  hundred  scholars  who 
gathered  round  him  for  instruction  he  is  the  father  of  our  national 
education.  In  his  physical  treatises  he  is  the  first  figure  to  which 
our  science  looks  back.  Baeda  was  a  statesman  as  well  as  a  scholar, 
and  the  letter  which  in  the  last  year  of  his  life  he  addressed  to 
Ecgberht  of  York  shows  how  vigorously  he  proposed  to  battle 
against  the  growing  anarchy  of  Northumbria.  But  his  plans  of 
reform  came  too  late,  though  a  king  like  Eadberht,  with  his  brother 
738  Ecgberht,  the  first  Archbishop  of  York,  might  for  a  time  revive  the 
fading  glories  of  his  kingdom.  Eadberht  repelled  an  attack  of 
^Ethelbald  on  his  southern  border  ;  while  at  the  same  time  he 
carried  on  a  successful  war  against  the  Picts.  Ten  years  later  he 
penetrated  into  Ayrshire,  and  finally  made  an  alliance  with  the 
Picts,  which  enabled  him  in  756  to  conquer  Strathclyde  and  take 
its  capital  Alcluyd,  or  Dumbarton.  But  at  the  moment  when  his 


DAVID,    AS    WARRIOR. 
MS.  traditionally  ascribed  to  Bteda,  in  Durham  Cathedral  Library. 


76 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


685 

TO 
828 


Offa  of 
Mercia 

758-796 


SEC.  iv      triumph  seemed   complete,  his  army  was  utterly  destroyed  as  it 
THE  THREE  withdrew  homewards,  and  so  crushing 'was  the  calamity  that  even 

KINGDOMS 

Eadberht  could  only  fling  down  his  sceptre  and  withdraw  with  his 
brother  the  Archbishop  to  a  monastery.  From  this  time  the  history 
of  Northumbria  is  only  a  wild  story  of  lawlessness  and  bloodshed. 
King  after  king  was  swept  away  by  treason  and  revolt,  the  country 
fell  into  the  hands  of  its  turbulent  nobles,  the  very  fields  lay  waste, 
and  the  land  was  scourged  by  famine  and  plague.  Isolated  from 
the  rest  of  the  country  during  fifty  years  of  anarchy,  the  northern 
realm  hardly  seemed  to  form  part  of  the  English  people. 

The  work  in  fact  of  national  consolidation  among  the  English 
seemed  to  be  fatally  arrested.     The  battle  of  Burford  had  finally 
settled  the  division  of  Britain  into  three  equal  powers.    Wessex  was 
now  as  firmly  planted  south  of  the  Thames  as  Northumbria  north  of 
the  Humber.     But  this  crushing  defeat  was  far  from  having  broken 
the  Mercian  power;  and  under  Offa,  whose  reign  from  758  to  796 
covers  with  that  of  ^Ethelbald  nearly  the  whole  of  the  eighth  century, 
it  rose  to  a  height  unknown  since  the  days  of  Wulfhere.     Years 
however  had  to  pass  before  the  new  king  could  set  about  the  re- 
covery of  Kent ;    and    it  was  only 
after  a  war  of  three  years  that  in 
775    a  victory   at    Otford    gave    it 
back  to  the  Mercian  realm.     With 
Kent      Offa     doubtless     recovered 
Sussex     and    Surrey,    as    well    as 
Essex  and  London  ;  and  four  years 
later  a  victory  at  Bensington  com- 
pleted the  conquest  of  the  district  that  now  forms  the  shires  of 
Oxford  and  Buckingham.    For  the  nine  years  that  followed  however 
Mercia  ventured  on  no  further  attempt  to  extend  her  power  over 
her  English  neighbours.     Like  her  rivals,  she  turned  on  the  Welsh. 
Pushing  after  779  over  the  Severn,  whose  upper  course  had  served 
till  now  as  the  frontier  between  Briton  and  Englishman,  Offa  drove 
the  King  of  Powys  from  his  capital,  which  changed  its  old  name  of 
Pengwyrn  for  the  significant  English  title  of  the  Town  in  the  Scrub 
or  bush,  Scrobsbyryg,  or  Shrewsbury.    The  border-line  he  drew  after 
his  inroad  is  marked  by  a  huge  earthwork,  which  runs  from  the 
mouth  of  Wye  to  that  of  Dee,  and  is  still  called  Offa's  Dyke.     A 


COIN   OF  OFFA. 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS 


77 


settlement  of  Englishmen  on  the  land  between  this  dyke  and  the      SEC.  iv 
Severn  served  as  a  military  frontier  for  the  Mercian  realm.     Here,  THB  THREE 

KINGDOMS 


685 

TO 
828 


as  in   the   later   conquests  of  the  Northumbrians  and  the  West- 
Saxons,  the  older  plan  of  driving  off  the  conquered  from  the  soil 


78  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  iv     was  definitely  abandoned.     The  Welsh  who  chose  to  remain  dwelt 
THE  THREE  undisturbed  among  their  English  conquerors  ;  and  it  was  probably 

KINGDOMS  *  J 

685        to  regulate  the  mutual  relations  of  the  tvr>  races  that  Offa  drew  up 

TO 

828        the  code  of  laws  which  bore  his  name.      In  Mercia  as  in  North- 
umbria  attacks  on  the  Britons  marked  the  close  of  all  dreams  of 
supremacy  over  the  English  themselves.     Under  Offa  Mercia  sank 
into  virtual  isolation.     The  anarchy  into  which  Northumbria  sank 
after  Eadberht's  death  never  tempted  him  to  cross  the  Humber ; 
nor  was  he  shaken  from  his  inaction  by  as  tempting  an  opportunity 
which  presented  itself  across  the  Thames.    It  must  have  been  in  the 
years  that  followed  the  battle  of  Burford  that  the  West-Saxons 
made  themselves  masters  of  the  shrunken  realm  of  Dyvnaint,  which 
still  retains  its  old  name  in  the  form  of  Devon,  and  pushed  their 
frontier  westward  to  the  Tamar.     But  in   786  their  progress  was 
stayed  by  a  fresh  outbreak  of  anarchy.     The  strife  between  the 
rivals  that  disputed  the  throne  was  ended  by  the  defeat  of  Ecgberht, 
the  heir  of  Ceawlin's  line,  and  his  flight  to  Offa's  court.    The  Mercian 
king  however  used  his  presence  not  so  much  for  schemes  of  ag- 
grandizement as  to  bring  about  a  peaceful  alliance  ;  and  in  789 
Ecgberht  was  driven  from  Mercia,  while  OfTa  wedded  his  daughter 
to  the  West-Saxon  king  Beorhtric.     The  true  aim  of  Offa  indeed 
was  to  unite  firmly  the  whole  of  Mid-Britain,  with  Kent  as  its  outlet 
towards  Europe,  under  the  Mercian  crown,  and  to  mark  its  ecclesi- 
astical as  well  as  its  political  independence  by  the  formation  in  787 
of  an  archbishopric  of  Lichfield,  as  a  check  to  the  see  of  Canterbury 
in  the  south,  and  a  rival  to  the  see  of  York  in  the  north. 
England          But  while  Offa  was  hampered  in  his  projects  by  the  dread  of  the 
Franks6    West-Saxons  at  home,  he  was  forced  to  watch  jealously  a  power 
which  had  risen  to  dangerous  greatness  over  sea,  the  power  of  the 
Franks.     Till   now,  the  interests   of  the   English  people  had  lain 
wholly  within  the  bounds  of  the  Britain  they  had  won.     But  at  this 
moment  our  national  horizon  suddenly  widened,  and  the  fortunes 
of  England    became  linked  to  the   general  fortunes  of  Western 
Christendom.     It  was  by  the  work  of  English  missionaries  that 
Britain  was  first  drawn  into  political  relations  with  the  Prankish 
court.     The  Northumbrian  Willibrord,  and  the  more  famous  West- 
Saxon  Boniface  or  WTinfrith,  followed  in  the  track  of  earlier  preachers, 
both  Irish  and  English,  who  had  been  labouring  among  the  heathens 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS 


79 


of  Germany,  and  especially  among  those  who  had  now  become  subject      SEC.  iv 
to   the   Franks.     The    Frank   kinsr   Pippin's   connexion   with   the  THE  THREE 

KINGDOMS 

English   preachers   led    to   constant   intercourse  with  England  ;  a        685 
Northumbrian  scholar,  Alcuin,  was  the  centre  of  the  literary  revival        828 


S.    MATTHEW. 
Gospel-book  of  S.  Boniface,  at  Fnldtt. 


at  his  court.  Pippin's  son  Charles,  known  in  after  days  as  Charles 
the  Great,  maintained  the  same  interest  in  English  affairs.  His 
friendship  with  Alcuin  drew  him  into  close  relations  with  Northern 
Britain.  Ecgberht,  the  claimant  of  the  West-Saxon  throne,  had 
found  a  refuge  with  him  since  Offa's  league  with  Beorhtric  in  787. 
With  Offa  too  his  relations  seem  to  have  been  generally  friendly. 


8o  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP,  i 

SEC.  iv      But  the  Mercian  king  shrank  cautiously  from  any  connexion  which 
THE  THREE  might  imply  a  recognition  of  Frankish  supremacy.     He  had  indeed 

KINGDOMS  r  J  •?  J 

685        good  grounds  for  caution.     The  costly  gifts  sent  by  Charles  to  the 

TO 

828  monasteries  of  England  as  of  Ireland  showed  his  will  to  obtain  an 
influence  in  both  countries  ;  he  maintained  relations  with  North- 
umbria,  with  Kent,  with  the  whole  English  Church.  Above  all,  he 


NC1PIT  LI 


EXO  D VS 


BEGINNING  OF  THE   BOOK   OF  EXODUS. 

Alcuin's  Bible.     MS.  Add.  10546,  British  Museum. 


harboured  at  his  court  exiles  from  every  English  realm,  exiled  kings 
from  Northumbria,  East- Anglian  thegns,  fugitives  from  Mercia  itself ; 
and  Ecgberht  probably  marched  in  his  train  when  the  shouts  of  the 
;:00  people  and  priesthood  of  Rome  hailed  him  as  Roman  Emperor. 
When  the  death  of  Beorhtric  in  802  opened  a  way  for  the  exile's 
return  to  Wessex,  the  relations  of  Charles  with  the  English  were 
still  guided  by  the  dream  that  Britain,  lost  to  the  Empire  at  the 


VOL.  1—6 


82  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  iv     hour  when  the  rest  of  the  western  provinces  were  lost,  should  return 
THE  THREE  to  the  Empire  now  that  Rome  had  risen  again  to  more  than  its  old 

KINGDOMS 

685        greatness  in  the  west ;  and  the  revolutions  which  were  distracting 
828        the  English  kingdoms  told  steadily  in  his  favour. 
The  Fall        The  years  since  Ecgberht's  flight  had  made  little  change  in  the 
1  state  of  Britain.     Offa's  completion  of  his  kingdom  by  the  seizure 
of  East  Anglia  had  been  followed 
by  his  death  in   796  ;    and  under 
his  successor  Cenwulf  the  Mercian 
archbishopric  was  suppressed,  and 
there    was    no    attempt    to    carry 
further  the  supremacy  of  the  Mid- 
802        land     kingdom.       vCenwulf    stood  COIN  OF  ECGBERHT. 

silently  by  when  Ecgberht  mounted 

the  West-Saxon  throne,  and  maintained  peace  with  the  new 
ruler  of  Wessex  throughout  his  reign.  The  first  enterprise  of 
Ecgberht  indeed  was  not  directed  against  his  English  but  his 
Welsh  neighbours.  In  815  he  marched  into  the  heart  of  Cornwall, 
and  after  eight  years  of  fighting,  the  last  fragment  of  British 
dominion  in  the  west  came  to  an  end.  As  a  nation  Britain  had 
passed  away  with  the  victories  of  D^orham  and  Chester  ;  of  the 
separate  British  peoples  who  had  still  carried  on  the  struggle  with 
the  three  English  kingdoms,  the  Britons  of  Cumbria  and  of 
Strathclyde  had  already  bowed  to  Northumbrian  rule  ;  the  Britons 
of  Wales  had  owned  by  tribute  to  Offa  the  supremacy  of  Mercia  ; 
the  last  unconquered  British  state  of  West  Wales  as  far  as  the 
Land's  End  now  passed  under  the  mastery  of  Wessex. 

While  Wessex  was  regaining  the  strength  it  had  so  long  lost,  its 
rival  in  Mid-Britain  was  sinking  into  helpless  anarchy.  Within, 
Mercia  was  torn  by  a  civil  war  which  broke  out  on  Cenwulfs  death 
in  821  ;  and  the  weakness  which  this  left  behind  was  seen  when 
the  old  strife  with  Wessex  was  renewed  by  his  successor  Beorn- 
wulf,  who  in  825  penetrated  into  Wiltshire,  and  was  defeated  in  a 
bloody  battle  at  Ellandun.  All  England  south  of  the  Thames  at 
once  submitted  to  Ecgberht  of  Wessex,  and  East  Anglia  rose  in  a 
desperate  revolt  which  proved  fatal  to  its  Mercian  rulers.  Two  of 
these  kings  in  succession  fell  fighting  on  East-Anglian  soil ;  and  a 
third,  Wirjhf,  had  hardly  mounted  the  Mercian  throne  when  his 


I  THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS  83 

exhausted  kingdom  was  called  on  again  to  encounter  the  West-      SEC.V 
Saxon.     Ecgberht  saw  that  the  hour  had  come  for  a  decisive  onset.      w^ix 
In  828  his  army  marched  northward  without  a  struggle  ;  Wiglaf      DANES 
fled  helplessly  before  it;  and  Mercia  bowed  to  the  West-Saxon 
overlordship.     From  Mercia  Ecgberht  marched  on  Northumbria  ;       — 
but  half  a  century  of  anarchy  had  robbed  that   kingdom   of  all 
vigour,  and  pirates  were  already  harrying  its  coast  ;  its  nobles  met 
him  at  Dore  in  Derbyshire,  and  owned  him  as  their  overlord.     The 
work  that  Oswiu  and  ^Ethelbald  had  failed  to  do  was  done,  and  the 
whole  English  race  in  Britain  was  for  the  first  time  knit  together 
under  a  single  ruler.     Long  and  bitter  as  the  struggle  for  inde- 
pendence was  still  to  be  in  Mercia  and  in  the  north,  yet  from  the 
moment    that    Northumbria    bowed  to  its  West-Saxon  overlord, 
England  was  made  in  fact  if  not  as  yet  in  name. 


Section  V.— Wessex  and  the  Danes,  802—880 

[Authorities. — Our  history  here  rests  mainly  on  the  English  (or  Anglo-Saxon) 
Chronicle.  The  earlier  part  of  this  is  a  compilation,  and  consists  of  (i)  Annals 
of  the  conquest  of  South  Britain,  (2)  Short  notices  of  the  kings  and  bishops  of 
Wessex,  expanded  into  larger  form  by  copious  insertions  from  Baeda,  and  after 
his  death  by  briefer  additions  from  some  northern  sources.  (3)  It  is  probable 
that  these  materials  were  thrown  together,  and  perhaps  translated  from  Latin 
into  English,  in  Alfred's  time,  as  a  preface  to  the  far  fuller  annals  which  begin 
with  the  reign  of  ^Lthelwulf,  and  widen  into  a  great  contemporary  history  when 
they  reach  that  of  Alfred  himself.  Of  their  character  and  import  as  a  part  of 
English  literature,  I  have  spoken  in  the  text.  The  "  Life  of  Alfred  "  which 
bears  the  name  of  Asser  is  probably  contemporary,  or  at  any  rate  founded  on 
contemporary  authority.  There  is  an  admirable  modern  life  of  the  king  by 
Dr.  Pauli.  For  the  Danish  wars,  see  "The  Conquest  of  England"  by  J.  R. 
Green.] 

The  effort  after  a  national  sovereignty  had  hardly  been  begun,       The 

when  the  Dane  struck  down  the  short-lived  greatness  of  Wessex.     North- 
men 

While  Britain  was  passing  through  her  ages  of  conquest  and  settle- 
ment, the  dwellers  in  the  Scandinavian  peninsula  and  the  isles  of 
the  Baltic  had  lain  hidden  from  Christendom,  waging  their  battle 
for  existence  with  a  stern  climate,  a  barren  soil,  and  stormy  seas. 
Forays  and  plunder-raids  over  sea  eked  out  their  scanty  livelihood, 
and  as  the  eighth  century  closed,  these  raids  found  a  wider  sphere 


84 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  V 
•  WESSEX 

AND  THE 

DANES 
802 

TO 
880 


787 


than  the  waters  of  the  north.  Ecgberht  had  not  yet  brought  all 
Britain  under  his  sway  when  the  Wikings  or  "  creek-men,"  as  the 
adventurers  were  called,  were  seen  hovering  off  the  English  coast, 
and  growing  in  numbers  and  hardihood  as  they  crept  southward 
to  the  Thames.  The  first  sight  of  the  northmen  is  as  if  the  hand 
on  the  dial  of  history  had  gone  back  three  hundred  years. 

The  Norwegian  fiords, 
the  Frisian  sandbanks, 
poured  forth  pirate  fleets 
such  as  had  swept  the 
seas  in  the  days  of 
Hengest  and  Cerdic. 
There  was  the  same 
wild  panic  as  the  black 
boats  of  the  -invaders 
struck  inland  along  the 
river-reaches,  or  moored 
around  the  river  islets, 
the  same  sights  of  hor- 
ror, firing  of  homesteads, 
slaughter  of  men,  women 
driven  off  to  slavery  or 
shame,  children  tossed 

on  pikes  or  sold  in  the  market-place,  as  when  the  English  invaders 
attacked  Britain.  Christian  priests  were  again  slain  at  the  altar  by 
worshippers  of  Woden  ;  letters,  arts,  religion,  government  disap- 
peared before  these  northmen  as  before  the  northmen  of  old.  But 
when  the  wild  burst  of  the  storm  was  over,  land,  people,  govern- 
ment reappeared  unchanged.  England  still  remained  England  ; 
the  conquerors  sank  quietly  into  the  mass  of  those  around  them  ; 
and  Woden  yielded  without  a  struggle  to  Christ.  The  secret  of 
this  difference  between  the  two  invasions  was  that  the  battle  was 
no  longer  between  men  of  different  races.  It  was  no  longer 
a  fight  between  Briton  and  German,  between  Englishman  and 
Welshman.  The  life  of  these  northern  folk  was  in  the  main  the 
life  of  the  earlier  Englishmen.  Their  customs,  their  religion,  their 
social  order  were  the  same  ;  they  were  in  fact  kinsmen  bringing 
back  to  an  England  that  had  forgotten  its  origins  the  barbaric 


BRONZE  PLATE,   WITH   FIGURES  OF  NORTHERN- 
WARRIORS. 
Montelius,  "Civilization  of  Sweden." 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOM! 


n  ^ 

"5 


LINES  OF 
NORTHERN    INVASIONS 


English  Miles 
o        50     100  200 


SEC.  V 

W  ESSEX 
A.VD   THE 

DANES 
802 

TO 
8SO 


Walker  fir  Koutall  SC. 


England  of  its  pirate  forefathers.     Nowhere  over  Europe  was  the 
Tight  so  fierce,  because  nowhere  else  were  the  combatants  men  of 


85 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  V 
WESSEX 

AND  THE 

DANES 
802 

TO 
880 


Danish 

Con- 

quests 


834-837 


851 


853 


one  blood  and  one  speech.  But  just  for  this  reason  the  fusion 
of  the  northmen  with  their  foes  was  nowhere  so  peaceful  and 
so  complete. 

Britain  had  to  meet  a  double  attack  from  its  new  assailants. 
The  northmen  of  Norway  had  struck  westward  to  the  Shetlands 
and  Orkneys,  and  passed  thence  by  the  Hebrides  to  Ireland ; 
while  their  kinsmen  who  now  dwelt  in 
the  old  Engle-land  steered  along  the 
coasts  of  Frisia  and  Gaul.  Shut  in  be- 
tween the  two  lines  of  their  advance, 
Britain  lay  in  the  very  centre  of  their 
field  of  operations  ;  and  at  the  close  of 
Ecgberht's  reign,  when  the  decisive 
struggle  first  began,  their  attacks  were 
directed  to  the  two  extremities  of  the 
West-Saxon  realm.  After  having  harried 
East  Anglia  and  slain  in  Kent,  they 
swept  up  the  Thames  to  the  plunder  of 
London  ;  while  the  pirates  in  the  Irish 
Channel  roused  all  Cornwall  to  revolt. 
It  was  in  the  alliance  of  the  northmen 
with  the  Britons  that  the  danger  of  these 
earlier  inroads  lay.  Ecgberht  indeed  de- 
feated the  united  forces  of  these  two 
enemies  in  a  victory  at  Hengest-dun,  but 
an  unequal  struggle  was  carried  on  for 
years  to  come  in  the  Wessex  west  of 
Selwood.  King  ^Ethelwulf,  who  followed 
Ecgberht  in  839,  fought  strenuously  in 
the  defence  of  his  realm  ;  in  the  defeat 
of  Charmouth,  as  in  the  victory  at  Aclea, 
he  led  his  troops  in  person  against  the 

sea-robbers  ;  and  hs  drove  back  the  Welsh  of  North  Wales,  who 
were  encouraged  by  the  invaders  to  rise  in  arms.  Northmen 
and  Welshmen  were  beaten  again  and  again,  and  yet  the  peril 
grew  greater  year  by  year.  The  dangers  to  the  Christian  faith 
from  these  heathen  assailants  roused  the  clergy  to  his  aid. 
Swithun,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  became  ^Ethelwulf  s  minister ; 


SO;.UII:R. 

Nin  h  Century. 

Gospel-book  of  Mac  Durnan,  Lambeth 
Palace  Library. 


I  THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS  87 

Ealhstan,  Bishop  of  Sherborne,  was  among  the  soldiers  of  the  SEC.  v 
Cross,  and  with  the  ealdormen  led  the  fyrds  of  Somerset  and 
Dorset  to  drive  the  invaders  from  the  mouth  of  the  Parret.  At 
last  hard  righting  gained  the  realm  a  little  respite  ;  in  858 
^Ethelwulf  died  in  peace,  and  for  eight  years  the  Northmen  left 
the  land  in  quiet..  But  these  earlier  forays  had  been  mere  pre- 
ludes to  the  real  burst  of  the  storm.  When  it  broke  in  its  full 
force  upon  the  island,  it  was  no  longer  a  series  of  plunder-raids, 
but  the  invasion  of  Britain  by  a  host  of  conquerors  who  settled  as 
they  conquered.  The  work  was  now  taken  up  by  another  people 
of  Scandinavian  blood,  the  Danes.  At  the  accession  of  ^Ethelred,  866 
the  third  of  ^Ethelwulfs  sons,  who  had  mounted  the  throne  after 
the  short  reigns  of  his  brothers,  these  new  assailants  fell  on  Britain. 
As  they  came  to  the  front,  the  character  of  the  attack  wholly 
changed.  The  petty  squadrons  which  had  till  now  harassed  the 
coast  of  Britain  made  way  for  larger  hosts  than  had  as  yet  fallen  on 
any  country  in  the  west ;  while  raid  and  foray  were  replaced  by  the 
regular  campaign  of  armies  who  marched  to  conquer,  and  whose 
aim  was  to  settle  on  the  land  they  won.  In  866  the  Danes  landed 
in  East  Anglia,  and  marched  in  the  next  spring  across  the  Humber 
upon  York.  Civil  strife  as  usual  distracted  the  energies  of 
Northumbria.  Its  subject-crown  was  disputed  by  two  claimants, 
and  when  they  united  to  meet  this  common  danger  both  fell  in  the 
same  defeat  before  the  walls  of  their  capital.  Northumbria  at  once 
submitted  to  the  Danes,  and  Mercia  was  only  saved  by  a  hasty 
march  of  King  ^thelred  to  its  aid.  But  the  Peace  of  Nottingham, 
by  which  ^Ethelred  rescued  Mercia 
in  868,  left  the  Danes  free  to  turn 
to  the  rich  spoil  of  the  great  abbeys 
of  the  Fen.  Peterborough,  Crow- 
land,  Ely,  went  up  in  flames,  and 
their  monks  fled  or  were  slain 
among  the  ruins.  From  thence  COIN  OF  EADMUND  OF  EAST 

they    struck     suddenly    for    East 
Anglia  itself,  whose  king,  Eadmund, 

brought  prisoner  before   the  Danish  leaders,  was  bound  to  a  tree        870 
and  shot  to  death  with  arrows.     His  martyrdom  by  the  heathen 
made  him  the  St.  Sebastian  of  English  legend  ;  in  later  days  his 


88  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 


SEC.  v       figure  gleamed  from  the  pictured  windows  of  church  after  church 
WESSEX      along  the  eastern  coast,  and   the   stately  abbey  of  St.  Edmunds- 

AND   THE 

DANES      bury  rose  over  his  relics.    With  Eadmund  ended  the  line  of  East- 
802  J  _ 

TO         Anglian    under-kings,  for   his    kingdom  was  not.  only  conquered, 

ooO 

but  ten  years  later  it  was  divided  among  the  soldiers  of  a  Danish 
host,  whose  leader,  Guthrum,  assumed  its  crown.  How  great  was 
the  terror  stirred  by  these  successive  victories  was  shown  in  the 
action  of  Mercia,  which,  though  it  was  as  yet  still  spared  from 
actual  conquest,  crouched  in  terror  before  the  Danes,  acknowledged 
them  in  870  as  its  overlords,  and  paid  them  tribute. 

Danes  In  four  years  the  work  of  Ecgberht  had  been  undone,  and 
Wessex  England  north  of  the  Thames  had  been  torn  from  the  overlordship 
of  Wessex.  So  rapid  a  conquest  as  the  Danish  conquests  of 
Northumbria,  Mercia,  and  East  Anglia,  had  only  been  made 
possible  by  the  temper  of  these  kingdoms  themselves.  To  them 
the  conquest  was  simply  their  transfer,  from  one  overlord  to  another, 
and  it  would  seem  as  if  they  preferred  the  lordship  of  the  Dane  to 
the  overlordship  of  the  West-Saxon.  It  was  another  sign  of  the 
enormous  difficulty  of  welding  these  kingdoms  together  into  a 
single  people.  The  time  had  now  come  for  Wessex  to  fight,  not 
for  supremacy,  but  for  life.  As  yet  it  seemed  paralyzed  by  terror. 
With  the  exception  of  his  one  march  on  Nottingham,  King 
yEthelred  had  done  nothing  to  save  his  under-kingdoms  from  the 
wreck.  But  the  Danes  no  sooner  pushed  up  Thames  to  Reading 
than  the  West-Saxons,  attacked  on  their  own  soil,  turned  fiercely 
at  bay.  The  enemy  penetrated  indeed  into  the  heart  of  Wessex  as 
far  as  the  heights  that  overlook  the  Vale  of  White  Horse.  A 
desperate  battle  drove  them  back  from  Ashdown  ;  but  their  camp 
in  the  tongue  of  land  between  the  Kennet  and  Thames  proved 
impregnable,  and  fresh  forces  pushed  up  the  Thames  to  join  their 
fellows.  In  the  midst  of  the  struggle  ^Ethelred  died,  and  left  his 
871  youngest  brother  Alfred  to  meet  a  fresh  advance  of  the  foe.  They 
had  already  encamped  at  Wilton  before  the  young  king  could  meet 
them,  and  a  series  of  defeats  forced  him  to  buy  the  withdrawal  of 
the  pirates  and  win  a  few  years'  breathing-space  for  his  realm.  It 
was  easy  for  the  quick  eye  of  Alfred  to  see  that  the  Danes  had 
withdrawn  simply  with  the  view  of  gaining  firmer  footing  for  a  new 
attack  ;  indeed,  three  years  had  hardly  passed  before  Mercia  was 


I  THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS  89 

invaded,  and  its  under-king  driven  over  sea  to  make  place  for  a       SEC.  v 
tributary  of  the  Danes.     From    Repton  half  their  host   marched     WESSEX 

AND  THE 

northwards  to  the  Tyne,  dividing  a  land  where  there  was  little  left      DANES 

802 

to  plunder,  colonizing  and  tilling  it,  while  Guthrum  led  the  rest  into         TO 

880 

East  Anglia   to   prepare  for  their  next   year's  attack  on  Wessex. 

The  greatness  of  the  contest  had  now  drawn  to  Britain  the  whole 
strength  of  the  northmen  ;  and  it  was  with  a  host  swollen  by 
reinforcements  from  every  quarter  that  Guthrum  at  last  set  sail  for 
the  south.  In  876  the  Danish  fleet  appeared  before  Wareham,  and 
when  a  treaty  with  yElfred  won  their  withdrawal,  they  threw  them- 
selves into  Exeter  and  allied  themselves  with  the  Welsh.  Through 
the  winter  Alfred  girded  himself  for  this  new  peril.  At  break  of 
spring  his  army  closed  round  the  town,  while  a  hired  fleet  cruised 
off  the  coast  to  guard  against  rescue.  The  peril  of  their  brethren 
in  Exeter  forced  a  part  of  the  Danish  host  which  had  remained  at 
Wareham  to  put  to  sea  with  the  view  of  aiding  them,  but  they 
were  driven  by  a  storm  on  the  rocks  of  Swanage,  and  Exeter  was 
at  last  starved  into  surrender,  while  the  Danes  again  swore  to  leave 
Wessex. 

They  withdrew  in  fact  to  Gloucester,  but  Alfred  had  hardly  dis-  Peace  cf 
banded  his  troops  when  his  enemies,  roused  by  the  arrival  of  fresh 
hordes  eager  for  plunder,  reappeared  at  Chippenham,  and  at  the 
opening  of  878  marched  ravaging  over  the  land.  The  surprise 
was  complete,  and  for  a  month  or  two  the  general  panic  left  no 
hope  of  resistance.  Alfred,  with  his  small  band  of  followers, 
could  only  throw  himself  into  a  fort  raised  hastily  in  the  isle  of 
Athelney,  among  the  marshes  of  the  Parret.  It  was  a  position 
from  which  he  could  watch  closely  the  movements  of  his  foes,  and 
with  the  first  burst  of  spring  he  called  the  thegns  of  Somerset  to 
his  standard,  and  still  gathering  his  troops  as  he  moved,  marched 
through  Wiltshire  on  the  Danes.  He  found  their  host  at  Edington, 
defeated  it  in  a  great  battle,  and  after  a  siege  of  fourteen  days  forced 
them  to  surrender.  Their  leader,  Guthrum,  was  baptized  as  a 
Christian  and  bound  by  a  solemn  peace  or  "  frith  "  at  Wcdmore  in 
Somerset.  In  form  the  Peace  of  \Vedmore  seemed  indeed  a  sur- 
render of  the  bulk  of  Britain  to  its  invaders.  All  Northumbria, 
all  East  Anglia,  the  half  of  Central  England  was  left  subject  to  the 
northmen.  Throughout  this  Dane-law,  as  it  was  called,  the  con- 


9o 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  V 
WHSSEX 

AND  TUB 

DANES 
802 

TO 
880 


/Elfred 
871-901 


querors  settled  down  among  the  conquered  population  as  lords  of 
the  soil,  thickly  in  the  north  and  east,  more  thinly  in  the  central 
districts,  but  everywhere  guarding  jealously  their  old  isolation,  and 
gathering  in  separate  "  heres "  or  armies  round  towns  which  were 
only  linked  in  loose  confederacies.  The  peace  had  in  fact  saved 
little  more  than  Wessex  itself.  But  in  saving  Wessex  it  saved 
England.  The  spell  of  terror  was  broken.  The  tide  of  invasion 
was  turned.  Only  one  short  struggle  broke  a  peace  of  fifteen 
years. 

With  the  Peace  of  Wedmore  in  878  began  a  work  even  more 
noble  than  this  deliverance  of  Wessex  from  the  Dane.     "  So  long 

as  I  have  lived,"  wrote  ^Elfred  in 
later  days,  "  I  have  striven  to  live 
worthily."  He  longed  when  death 
overtook  him  "  to  leave  to  the  men 
that  come  after  a  remembrance  of 
him  in  good  works."  The  aim  has 
been  more  than  fulfilled.  The 
memory  of  the  life  and  doings  of 
the  noblest  of  English  rulers  has 
come  down  to  us  living  and  dis- 
tinct through  the  mist  of  exag- 
geration and  legend  that  gathered 
round  it.  Politically  or  intellectu- 
ally, the  sphere  of  yElfred's  action 
may  seem  too  small  to  justify  a 
comparison  of  him  with  the  few 
whom  the  world  claims  as  its  great- 
est men.  What  really  lifts  him  to 
their  level  is  the  moral  grandeur  of 
his  life.  He  lived  solely  for  the 
good  of  his  people.  He  is  the  first 

instance  in  the  history  of  Christendom  of  a  ruler  who  put  aside 
every  personal  aim  or  ambition  to  devote  himself  wholly  to  the 
welfare  of  those  whom  he  ruled.  In  his  mouth  "to  live  worthily" 
meant  a  life  of  justice,  temperance,  self-sacrifice.  The  Peace  of 
Wedmore  at  once  marked  the  temper  of  the  man.  Warrior  and 
conqueror  as  he  was,  with  a  disorganized  England  before  him,  he 


ALFRED'S  JEWEL. 

Found  at  Athelney  ;  now  in  the  Ashtnolean 
Museum,  Oxford. 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS 


ENGLAND 

AT  TREATY  OF  WEDMORE 


English  Miles 

O  20  40  6O 


r    J^-XORTHiyMBRIA\ 


SEC.  V 
WESSEX 

AND  THK 

DANES 
802 

TO 
880 


*/-  fr  Houtalt  K, 


set  aside  at  thirty  the  dream  of  conquest  to  leave  behind  him  the 
memory  not  of  victories  but  of  "good  works,"  of  daily  toils  by 


92  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP, 

SEC.  v      which  he  secured  peace,  good  government,  education  for  his  people, 
WESSEX      Hi3  policy  was  one  of  peace.     lie  abandoned  all  thourht  of  the 

AN'D  THE 

DANES      recovery  of  the  West-Saxon  ovcrlordship.     WTith  England  across 

TO         the  Watlinc*  Street,  a  Roman  road   which   ran  from   Chester  to 
880 

London,  in  other  words  with  Northumbria,  East  Anglia,  and  the 

half  of  Mcrcia,  ^Elfrcd  had  nothing  to  do.  All  that  he  retained 
was  his  own  Wessex,  with  the  upper  part  of  the  valley  of  the 
Thames,  the  whole  valley  of  the  Severn,  and  the  rich  plains  of  the 
Mersey  and  the  Dec.  Over  these  latter  districts,  to  which  the 
rtame  of  Mercia  was  now  confined,  while  the  rest  of  the  Mercian 
kingdom  became  known  as  the  Five  Boroughs  of  the  Danes, 
Alfred  set  the  ealdorman  yEthelrcd,  the  husband  of  his  daughter 
yEthelflacd,  a  ruler  well  fitted  by  his  courage  and  activity  to  guard 
.Wessex  against  inroads  from  the  north.  Against  invasion  from 
the  sea,  he  provided  by  the  better  organization  of  military  service, 
and  by  the  creation  of  a  fleet.  The  country  was  divided  into 
military  districts,  each  five  hides  sending  an  armed  man  at  the 
king's  summons  and  providing  him  with  food  and  pay.  The  duty, 
of  every  freeman  to  join  the  host  remained  binding  as  before  ;  but 
the  host  or  fyrd  was  divided  into  two  halves,  each  of  which  took 
by  turns  its  service  in  the  field,  while  the  other  half  guarded  its 
own  burhs  and  townships.  To  win  the  sea  was  a  harder  task  than 
to  win  the  land,  and  Alfred  had  not  to  organize,  but  to  create  a 
fleet.  He  steadily  developed  however  his  new  naval  force,  and  in 
the  reign  of  his  son  a  fleet  of  a  hundred  English  ships  held  the 
mastery  of  the  Channel. 

Alfred's  The  defence  of  his  realm  thus  provided  for,  he  devoted  himself  to 
its  good  government.  In  Wessex  itself,  spent  by  years  of  deadly 
struggle,  with  law,  order,  the  machinery  of  justice  and  government 
weakened  by  the  pirate  storm,  material  and  moral  civilization  had 
alike  to  be  revived.  His  work  was  of  a  simple  and  practical  order. 
In  politics  as  in  war,  or  in  his  after  dealings  with  letters,  he  took 
what  was  closest  at  hand  and  made  the  best  of  it.  In  the  re- 
organization of  public  justice  his  main  work  was  to  enforce  sub- 
mission to  the  justice  of  hundred-moot  and  shire-moot  alike  on 
noble  and  ceorl,  "  who  were  constantly  at  obstinate  variance  with 
one  another  in  the  folk-moots,  so  that  hardly  anyone  of  them  would 
grant  that  to  be  true  doom  that  had  been  judrjcd  for  doom  by  the 


I  THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS  93 

ealdorman  and  reeves."     "  All  the  law  dooms  of  his  land  that  were      SEC.  v 
given  in  his  absence  he  used  to  keenly  question,  of  what  sort  they     WESSEX 
were,  just  or  unjust ;  and  if  he  found  any  wrongdoing  in  them  he      D:***" 
would  call  the  judges  themselves  before  him."     "  Day  and  night," 
says  his  biographer,  he  was  busied  in  the  correction  of  local  in- 
justice :  "  for   in  that  whole  kingdom  the  poor  had  no  helpers,  or 
few,  save  the  king  himself."     Of  a  new  legislation  the  king  had  no 
thought.     "  Those  things  which  I  met  with,"  he  tells  us,  "  cither  of 
the  days  of  Ine,  my  kinsman,  or  of  Offa,  king  of  the  Mercians,  or  of 
^Ethelberht,  who  first  among  the  English  race  received  baptism,  those 
which  seemed  to  me  rightest,  those 
I  have  gathered,  and  rejected  the 
others."     But  unpretending  as  the 
work  might  seem,  its    importance 
was  great.     With  it  began  the  con- 
ception  of   a    national    law.      The  COIN-  OF  ;ELFRED. 
notion  of  separate  systems  of  tribal 

customs  for  the  separate  peoples  passed  away  ;  and  the  codes  of 
Wessex,  Mercia,  and  Kent,  blended  in  the  doom-book  of  a  common 
England. 

The  new  strength  which  had  been  won  for  Alfred's  kingdom  in  Alfred's 
six  years  of  peace  was  shown  when  the  next  pirate  onset  fell  on  the 
land.  A  host  from  Gaul  pushed  up  the  Thames  and  thence  to 
Rochester,  while  the  Danes  of  Guthrum's  kingdom  set  aside  the 
Peace  of  Wedmore  and  gave  help  to  their  brethren.  The  war  how- 
ever was  short,  and  ended  in  victory  so  complete  on  yElfred's  side 
that  in  886  a  new  peace  was  made  which  pushed  the  West-Saxon 
frontier  forward  into  the  realm  of  Guthrum,  and  tore  from  the 
Danish  hold  London  and  half  of  the  old  East-Saxon  kingdom. 
From  this  moment  the  Danes  were  thrown  on  an  attitude  of  defence, 
and  the  change  made  itself  at  once  felt  among  the  English.  The 
foundation  of  a  new  national  monarchy  was  laid.  "  All  the  Angcl- 
cyn  turned  to  yElfred,"  says  the  chronicle,  "  save  those  that  were 
under  bondage  to  Danish  men."  Hardly  had  this  second  breathing- 
space  been  won  than  the  king  turned  again  to  his  work  of  restoration. 
The  spirit  of  adventure  that  made  him  to  the  last  a  mighty  hunter, 
the  reckless  daring  of  his  early  manhood,  took  graver  form  in  an 
activity  that  found  time  amidst  the  cares  of  state  for  the  daily 


94 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.V 
WESSEX 

AND  THE 

DANES 
802 

TO 
880 


duties  of  religion,  for  converse  with  strangers,  for  study  and  trans- 
lation, for  learning  poems  by  heart,  for  planning  buildings  and 
instructing  craftsmen  in  gold-work,  for  teaching  even  falconers  and 
dog-keepers  their  business.  But  his  mind  was  far  from  being 
prisoned  within  his  own  island.  He  listened  with  keen  attention 
to  tales  of  far-off  lands,  to  the  Norwegian  Othere's  account  cf  his 
journey  round  the  North  Cape  to  explore  the  White  Sea,  and 
Wulfstan's  cruise  along  the  coast  of  Esthonia ;  envoys  bore  his 
presents  to  the  churches  of  India  and  Jerusalem,  and  an  annual 
mission  carried  Peter's-pence  to  Rome.  Restless  as  he  was,  his 


TOMBSTONE  OF  SUIBINE  MAC  MAEL^EHUMAI,   IRISH   SCRIBE  COMMEMORATED 

IN   THE   ENGLISH    CHRONICLE,    A.D.    891. 
Petrie  and  Stokes,  "Christian  Inscriptions  in  Ireland." 


activity  was  the  activity  of  a  mind  strictly  practical.  Alfred  was 
pre-eminently  a  man  of  business,  careful  of  detail,  laborious,  and 
methodical.  He  carried  in  his  bosom  a  little  hand-book,  in  which 
he  jotted  down  things  as  they  struck  him,  now  a  bit  of  family 
genealogy,  now  a  prayer,  now  a  story  such  as  that  of  Bishop  Eald- 
helm  singing  sacred  songs  on  the  bridge.  Each  hour  of  the  king's 
day  had  its  peculiar  task  ;  there  was  the  same  order  in  the  division 
of  his  revenue  and  in  the  arrangement  of  his  court.  But  active  and 
busy  as  he  was,  his  temper  remained  simple  and  kindly.  We  have 
few  stories  of  his  life  that  are  more  than  mere  legends,  but  even 
legend  itself  never  ventured  to  depart  from  the  outlines  of  a 


I  THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS  95 

character  which  men  knew  so  well.     During  his  months  of  waiting      SEC.  v 

at  Athelncy,  while  the  country  was  overrun  by  the  Danes,  he  was      w^TEx 
•  11  .  AND  THE 

said  to  have  entered  a  peasant  s  hut,  and  to  have  been  bidden  by      DANES 

So2 

the  housewife,  who  did  not  recognize  him,  to  turn  the  cakes  which 
were  baking  on  the  hearth.  The  young  king  did  as  he  was  bidden,  — 
but  in  the  sad  thoughts  which  came  over  him  he  forgot  his  task, 
and  bore  in  amused  silence  the  scolding  of  the  good  wife,  who  found 
her  cakes  spoilt  on  her  return.  This  tale,  if  nothing  more  than  a 
tale,  could  never  have  been  told  of  a  man  without  humour.  Tradi- 
tion told  of  his  genial  good-nature,  of  his  chattiness  over  the  ad- 
ventures of  his  life,  and  above  all  of  his  love  for  song.  In  his  busiest 
days  Alfred  found  time  to  learn  the  old  songs  of  his  race  by  heart, 
and  bade  them  be  taught  in  the  palace-school.  As  he  translated 
the  tales  of  the  heathen  mythology  he  lingered  fondly  over  and 
expanded  them,  and  in  moments  of  gloom  he  found  comfort  in  the 
music  of  the  Psalms. 

Neither  the  wars  nor  the  legislation  of  Alfred  were  destined  to     JElfre 
leave  such  lasting  traces  upon  England  as  the  impulse  he  gave  to 


its  literature.  His  end  indeed  even  in  this  was  practical  rather  ture 
than  literary.  What  he  aimed  at  was  simply  the  education  of  his 
people.  Letters  and  civilization  had  almost  vanished  in  Great 
Britain.  In  Wessex  itself  learning  had  disappeared.  "When  I 
began  to  reign,"  said  ^Elfred,  "  I  cannot  remember  one  priest  south  of 
Thames  who  could  render  his  service-book  into  English."  The  ruin 
the  Danes  had  wrought  had  been  no  mere  material  ruin.  In  North- 
umbria  the  Danish  sword  had  left  but  few  survivors  of  the  school  of 
Ecgberht  or  Baeda.  To  remedy  this  ignorance  Alfred  desired  that 
at  least  every  free-born  youth  who  possessed  the  means  should 
"  abide  at  his  book  till  he  can  well  understand  English  writing." 
He  himself  superintended  a  school  which  he  had  established  for  the 
young  nobles  of  his  court.  At  home  he  found  none  to  help  him  in 
his  educational  efforts  but  a  few  prelates  and  priests  who  remained 
in  the  fragment  of  Mercia  which  had  been  saved  from  the  invaders, 
and  a  Welsh  bishop,  Asser.  "  Formerly,"  the  king  writes  bitterly, 
•;  men  came  hither  from  foreign  lands  to  seek  for  instruction,  and 
now  when  we  desire  it  we  can  only  obtain  it  from  abroad."  He 
sought  it  among  the  West-Franks  and  the  East-Franks.  A  scholar 
named  Grimbald  came  from  St.  Omer  to  preside  over  the  abbey  he 


96 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  v       founded  at  Winchester ;  and.  John  the  Old-Saxon  was  fetched,  it 
may  be  from  the  Westphalian  abbey  of  Corbey,  to  rule  a  monastery 


AND   THK 

DANES 
802 

TO 

8  So 


S.     MATTHEW. 

Ninth  Century. 
Gospel-book  of  Mac  Darnan,  Lambeth  Palace  Library. 


that  yElfred's  gratitude  for  his  deliverance  from  the  Danes  raised 
in  the  marshes  of  Athelney. 

The  work,  however,  which  most  told  on  English  culture  was  done 


I  THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS  97 

not  by  these  scholars,  but  by  the  king  himself.     yElfrcd  resolved  to       SEC.  v 
throw  open  to  his  people  in  their  own  tongue  the  knowledge  which      WESSEX 

AND  THE 

had  till  then  been  limited  to  the  clergy.      He  took  his  books  as  he      DANES 

802 
found  them  ;  they  were  the  popular  manuals  of  his  age  ;  the  com-         TO 

pilation  of  Orosius,  then  the  one  accessible  book  of  universal  history, 
the  history  of  his  own  people  by  Baeda,  the  Consolation  of  Boethius,  Transla- 
the  Pastoral  of  Pope  Gregory.  He  translated  these  works  into  tlons 
English,  but  he  was  far  more  than  a  translator,  he  was  an  editor  for 
the  people.  Here  he  omitted,  there  he  expanded.  He  enriched 
Orosius  by  a  sketch  of  the  new  geographical  discoveries  in  the  north. 
He  gave  a  \Yest-Saxon  form  to  his  selections  from  Baeda.  In  one 
place  he  stops  to  explain  his  theory  of  government,  his  wish  for  a 
thicker  population,  his  conception  of  national  welfare  as  consisting 
in  a  due  balance  of  the  priest,  the  soldier,  and  the  churl.  The 
mention  of  Nero  spurs  him  to  an  outbreak  on  the  abuses  of  power. 
The  cold  Providence  of  Boethius  gives  way  to  an  enthusiastic 
acknowledgment  of  the  goodness  of  God.  As  Alfred  writes,  his 
large-hearted  nature  flings  off  its  royal  mantle,  and  he  talks  as  a 
man  to  men.  "  Do  not  blame  me,"  he  prays  with  a  charming 
simplicity,  "  if  any  know  Latin  better  than  I,  for  every  man  must 
say  what  he  says  and  do  what  he  does  according  to  his  ability." 
But  simple  as  was  his  aim,  Alfred  created  English  literature.  Be- 
fore him,  England  possessed  noble  poems  in  the  work  of  Caedmon 
and  his  fellow-singers,  and  a  train  of  ballads  and  battle-songs. 
Prose  she  had  none.  The  mighty  roll  of  the  books  that  fill  her 
libraries  begins  with  the  translations  of  Alfred,  and  above  all  with 
the  chronicle  of  his  reign.  It  seems  likely  that  the  king's  rendering 
of  B.rda's  history  gave  the  first  impulse  towards  the  compilation  of 
what  is  known  as  the  English  or  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle,  which 
was  certainly  thrown  into  its  present  form  during  his  reign.  The 
meagre  lists  of  the  kings  of  Wessex  and  of  the  bishops  of  Winchester, 
which  had  been  preserved  from  older  times,  were  roughly  expanded 
into  a  national  history  by  insertions  from  Baeda  ;  but  it  is  when  it 
reaches  the  reign  of  yElfred  that  the  Chronicle  suddenly  widens 
into  the  vigorous  narrative,  full  of  life  and  originality,  that  marks 
the  gift  of  a  new  power  to  the  English  tongue.  Varying  as  it  docs 
from  age  to  age  in  historic  value,  it  remains  the  first  vernacular 
history  of  any  Teutonic  people,  the  earliest  and  most  venerable 
VOL.  1—7 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  vi      monument  of  Teutonic  prose.     The  writer  of  English  history  may 
THE  WEST-  be  pardoned  if  he  lingers  too  fondly  over  the  figure  of  the  king  in 

SAXON 

REALM      whose  court,  at  whose  impulse,  it  may  be  in  whose  very  words, 


TO 
1013 


English  history  begins. 


Mercia 
and  the 
Danes 


Section  VI. — The  West-Saxon  Realm,  893—1013 

[Authorities. — Mainly  the  English  Chronicle,  which  varies  much  during  this 
period.  Through  the  reign  of  Eadward  it  is  copious,  and  a  Mercian  chronicle 
is  embedded  in  it  ;  its  entries  then  become  scanty,  and  are  broken  with  grand 
English  songs  till  the  reign  of  ^thelred,  when  its  fulness  returns.  "  Florence 
of  Worcester"  is  probably  a  translation  of  a  copy  of  the  Chronicle  now  lost. 
The  "Laws"  form  the  basis  of  our  constitutional  knowledge  of  the  time,  and 
fall  into  two  classes.  Those  of  Eadward,  yEthelstan,  Eadmund,  and  Eadgar 
are,  like  the  earlier  laws  of  yEthelberht  and  Ine,  "mainly  of  the  nature  of 
amendments  of  custom."  Those  of  Alfred,  yEthelred,  Cnut,  with  those  that 
bear  the  name  of  Eadward  the  Confessor,  "  aspire  to  the  character  of  codes  " 
All  are  printed  in  Mr.  Thorpe's  "  Ancient  Laws  and  Institutes  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  ;"  but  the  extracts  given  by  Dr.  Stubbs  ("  Select  Charters,"  pp.  59 — 74) 
contain  all  that  directly  bears  on  our  constitution.  Mr.  Kemble's  "  Codex 
Diplomaticus  yEvi  Saxonici"  contains  a  vast  mass  of  charters,  &c.,  belonging 
to  this  period.  The  lives  of  Dunstan  are  collected  by  Dr.  Stubbs  in  one  of 
the  Rolls  volumes.  For  this  period  see  also  Mr.  Green's  "  Conquest  of 
England."] 

Alfred's  work  of  peace  was  however  to  be  once  more  interrupted 
by  a  new  invasion  which  in  893  broke  under  the  Danish  leader 
Hasting  upon  England.  After  a  year's  fruitless  struggle  to  force 
the  strong  position  in  which  ^Elfred  covered  Wessex,  the  Danish 
forces  left  their  fastnesses  in  the  Andredsweald  and  crossed  the 
Thames,  while  a  rising  of  the  Danelaw  in  their  aid  revealed  the 
secret  of  this  movement.  Followed  by  the  Londoners,  the  king's 
son  Eadward  and  the  Mercian  Ealdorman  ^Ethelred  stormed  the 
Danish  camp  in  Essex,  followed  the  host  as  it  rode  along  Thames 
to  rouse  new  revolts  in  Wales,  caught  it  on  the  Severn,  and  defeat- 
ing it  with  a  great  slaughter,  drove  it  back  to  its  old  quarters  in 
Essex.  yElfred  himself  held  Exeter  against  attack  from  a  pirate 
fleet  and  their  West- Welsh  allies  ;  and  when  Hasting  once  more 
repeated  his  dash  upon  the  west  and  occupied  Chester,  ^Ethelred 
drove  him  from  his  hold  and  forced  him  to  fall  back  to  his  camp  on 
the  Lea.  Here  Alfred  came  to  his  lieutenant's  aid,  and  the  capture 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS 


of  the  Danish  ships  by  the  two  forts  with  which  the  king  barred      SEC.  vi 

the   river  virtually  ended    the   war.     The  Danes   streamed   back  THE  WEST- 
SAXON 
from  Wales,  whither  they  had  retreated,  to  their  old  quarters  in      REALM 

Frankland,  and  the  new  English  fleet  drove  the  freebooters  from         TO 

the  Channel. 

807 
The  last  years  of  Alfred's  life  seem  to  have  been  busied  in  pro- 


viding a  new  defence  for  his  realm  by  the  formation  of  alliances      Death 

901 
with    states   whom    a    common 

interest  drew  together  against 
the  pirates.  But  four  years  had 
hardly  passed  since  the  victory 
over  Hasting  when  his  death 
left  the  kingdom  to  his  son 
Eadward.  Eadward,  though  a 

COIN   O*'   EAUWAK.U  THE  ELDER. 

vigorous  and  active  ruler,  clung 
to  his  father's  policy  of  rest. 

It  was  not  till  910  that  a  rising  of  the  Danes  on  his  northern 
frontier,  and  an  attack  of  a  pirate  fleet  on  the  southern  coast, 
forced  him  to  re-open  the  war.  With  his  sister  ^Ethelflaed,  who 
was  in  912  left  sole  ruler  of  Mercia  by  the  death  of  the  Ealdor- 
man  yEthelred,  he  undertook  the  systematic  reduction  of  the 
Danelaw.  W7hile  he  bridled  East  Anglia  by  the  seizure  of  southern 
Essex,  and  the  erection  of  the  forts  of  Hertford  and  Witham,  the 
fame  of  Mercia  was  safe  in  the  hands  of  its  "  Lady."  ^Ethelflaed 
girded  her  strength  for  the  conquest  of  the  "  Five  Boroughs,"  the 
rude  Danish  confederacy  which  had  taken  the  place  of  the  eastern 
half  of  the  old  Mercian  kingdom.  Derby  represented  the  original 
Mercia  on  the  upper  Trent,  Lincoln  the  Lindiswaras,  Leicester  the 
Middle-English,  Stamford  the  province  of  the  Gyrwas — the  marsh- 
men  of  the  Fens — Nottingham  probably  that  of  the  Southumbrians. 
Each  of  the  "  Five  Boroughs  "  seems  to  have  been  ruled  by  its  earl 
with  his  separate  "  host  "  ;  within  each  twelve  "  lawmen  "  admin- 
istered Danish  law,  while  a  common  justice-court  existed  for  the 
whole  confederacy.  In  her  attack  upon  this  powerful  league, 
^Ethelflaed  abandoned  the  older  strategy  of  battle  and  raid  for  that  sEthel. 
of  siege  and  fortress-building.  Advancing  along  the  line  of  Trent,  ^^of 

she  fortified  Tamworth  and  Stafford  on  its  head-waters,  then  turn-     Meraa 

913-910 

ing  southward  secured  the  valley  of  the  Avon  by  a  fort  at  Warwick. 


TOO 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  VI 

THE  WEST- 
SAXON 
REALM 


TO 
1013 


With  the  lines  of  the  great  rivers  alike  secure,  and  the  approaches 
to  Wales  on  either  dde  of  Arden  in  her  hands,  she  in  917  closed  on 


ll'alker  &•  Boittallsc. 


Wessex 
and  the 
Dane- 
law 


Derby.     The  raids  of  the  Danes  of  Middle-England  failed 

the  Lady  of  Mercia  from  her  prey  ;  and  Derby  was  hardly 

when,  turning  southward,  she  forced 

the  surrender  of  Leicester. 

^thclflaed    died  in   the    midst    cf 

her  triumphs,  and   Eadward  at  once 

annexed    Mercia    to    Wessex.      The 

brilliancy  of  her  exploits  had  already 

been   matched  by  his   own   successes 

as  he  closed  in  on  the  district  of  the 

Five  Boroughs  from  the  south.    South 

Eadward   of  the  Middle-English  and  the  Fens 

901-92^   lay  a  tract  watered  by  the  Ouse  and 

the  Nen — originally  the  district  of  a 

tribe    known    as    the    South-English, 

and   now,  like  the  Five  Boroughs  of 

the  North,  grouped   round  the   towns  ARCHER. 

<•   T>      i  r        ITT         ..•          i  ITVT..I  Tenth  Century. 

of  Bedford,  Huntingdon,  and  North-  MS.  cott.  caiba.  A. 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS 


101 


ampton.       The   reduction  of  these  was  followed  by  that  of  East      SEC.  vi 
Anglia  ;    the  Danes   of  the  Fens  submitted    with    Stamford,    the  THE~WEST- 

Southumbrians  with  Nottingham.      Lincoln,  the  last  of  the  Five      REALM 

893 

•      TO 
1013 

922 


FIGURE   OF   CHRIST  WITH    HEATHEN  SILVER     CUP. 

SYMBOLS. 

From    Barrow    of   Gorm    and    Thyra,    Jutland. 
Worsaae,  "  Industrial  A  rts  of  Denmark. " 


Boroughs  as  yet  unconquered,  no  doubt  submitted  at  the  same 
time.  From  Mid-Britain  the  king  advanced  cautiously  to  an 
attack  on  Northumbria.  He  had  already  seized  Manchester,  and 
was  preparing  to  complete  his  conquests,  when  the  whole  of  the 
North  suddenly  laid  itself  at  his  feet  Not  merely  Northumbria 

but  the  Scots  and  the  Britons 
of  Strathclyde  "  chose  him  to  924 
father  and  lord."  The  submis- 
sion had  probably  been  brought 
about,  like  that  of  the  North- 
Welsh  to  Alfred,  by  the  pressure 
COIN  OF  ^THELSTA.N.  °f  mutual  feuds,  and  it  was  as 

valueless  as  theirs.  Within  a  year 

r         „  ^Ethelstan 

after  Eadward  s  death  the  north  was  again  on  fire.     yEthelstan,    925-940 


IO2 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  vi      Alfred's  golden-haired  grandson  whom  the  king  had  girded  as  a 
THE  WEST-  child  with  a  sword  set  in  a  golden  scabbard  and  a  gem-studded 

REALM      \)e\tt  incorporated  Northumbria  with  his  dominions  ;  then  turning 
893 

TO         westward   broke  a  league  which   had  been   formed    between    the 
1013 


S.   JOHN    THE    EVANGELIST. 
Gospel-book  given  by  Otto  II.  to  /Kthelstan. 
MS.  Cott.  Tib.  A.  ii. 


North- Welsh  and  the  Scots,  forced  them  to  pay  annual  tribute,  to 
march  in  his  armies,  and  to  attend  his  councils.  The  West- 
Welsh  of  Cornwall  were  reduced  to  a  like  vassalage,  and  the 
Britons  driven  from  Exeter,  which  they  had  shared  till  then  with 


j  THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS  103 

its  English  inhabitants.     A  league  of  the  Scot  King  Constantine,      SEC.  vi 
with  the  Irish  Ostmen,  was  punished  by  an  army  which  wasted 
his  kingdom,  while  a  fleet  ravaged  its  coasts.     But  the  revolt  only 

heralded    the    formidable   confederacy   in   which  Scotland,    Cum-         TO 

1013 
berland,  and  the  British  and  Danish  chiefs  of  the  west  and  east 

rose  at  the  appearance  of  the  fleet  of  Olaf  in  the  Humber.  The 
king's  victory  at  Brunanburh,  sung  in  noblest  war-song,  seemed  Brunan- 
the  wreck  of  Danish  hopes,  but  the  work  of  conquest  was  still  to  937 
be  done.  On  ^Ethelstan's  death,  and  the  accession  of  his  young 
brother  Eadmund,  the  Danelaw  rose  again  in  revolt  ;  the  men  of  Eadmund 
the  Five  Boroughs  joined  their  kinsmen  in  Northumbria,  and  a 
peace  which  was  negotiated  by  the  two  archbishops,  Odo  and 
Wulfstan,  practically  restored  the  old  balance  of  Alfred's  day, 
and  re-established  Watling  Street  as  the  boundary  between 
Wessex  and  the  Danes.  Eadmund  however  possessed  the  politi- 
cal and  military  ability  of  his  house.  The  Danelaw  was  once 
more  reduced  to  submission  ;  he  seized  on  an  alliance  with 
the  Scots  as  a  balance  to  the  Danes,  and  secured  the  aid  of 
their  king  by  investing  him  with  the  fief  of  Cumberland.  But 
his  triumphs  were  suddenly  cut  short  by  his  death.  As  the 
king  feasted  at  Pucklechurch  a  robber,  Leofa,  whom  he  had 
banished,  seated  himself  at  the  royal  board,  and  drew  his  sword 
on  the  cupbearer  who  bade  him  retire.  Eadmund,  springing  to 
his  thegn's  aid,  seized  the  robber  by  his  hair  and  flung  him 
to  the  ground,  but  Leofa  had  stabbed  the  king  ere  rescue 
could  arrive. 

The  completion  of  the  West-Saxon  realm  was  in  fact  reserved  Dunstan 
for  the  hands,  not  of  a  king  or  warrior,  but  of  a  priest.  With  the 
death  of  Eadmund,  a  new  figure  comes  to  the  front  in  English 
affairs.  Dunstan  stands  first  in  the  line  of  ecclesiastical  statesmen 
who  counted  among  them  Lanfranc  and  Wolsey,  and  ended  in 
Laud.  He  is  still  more  remarkable  in  himself,  in  his  own  vivid 
personality  after  nine  centuries  of  revolution  and  change.  He  was 
born  in  the  little  hamlet  of  Glastonbury,  beside  Ine's  church  ;  his 
father,  Heorstan,  was  a  man  of  wealth,  and  kinsman  of  three  bishops 
of  the  time  and  of  many  thegns  of  the  court.  It  must  have  been  in 
his  father's  hall  that  the  fair  diminutive  boy,  with  his  scant  but 
beautiful  hair,  caught  his  love  for  "  the  vain  songs  of  ancient 


104  HISTORY    OF   THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP,  i 

. \ . . 

SEC.  vi      heathendom,  the  trifling  legends,  the  funeral  chants,"  which  after- 
THE  WEST-  wards  roused  against  him  the  charge  of  sorcery.     Thence,  too,  he 

SAXON  ' 

REALM  may  have  derived  his  passionate  love  of  music,  and  his  custom  of 
TO  carrying  his  harp  in  hand  on  journey  or  visit.  The  wandering 
scholars  of  Ireland  left  their  books  in  the  monastery  of  Glastonbury, 
as  they  left  them  along  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube  ;  and  Dunstan 
plunged  into  the  study  of  sacred  and  profane  letters  till  his  brain 
broke  down  in  delirium.  His  knowledge  became  famous  in  the 
neighbourhood  and  reached  the  court  of  ^Ethelstan,  but  his  appear- 
ance there  was  the  signal  for  a  burst  of  ill-will  among  the  courtiers, 
though  many  of  them  were  kinsmen  of  his  own,  and  he  was  forced 
to  withdraw.  Even  when  Eadmund  recalled  him  to  the  court,  his 
rivals  drove  him  from  the  king's  train,  threw  him  from  his  horse  as 
he  passed  through  the  marshes;  a  id  with  the  wild  passion  of  their 
age,  trampled  him  underfoot  in  the  mire.  The  outrage  ended  in 
fever,  and  in  the  bitterness  of  his  disappointment  and  shame 

c-  94°  Dunstan  rose  from  his  sick-bed  a  monk.  But  in  England  at  this 
time  the  monastic  profession  seems  to  have  been  little  more  than  a 
vow  of  celibacy,  and  his  devotion  took  no  ascetic  turn.  His  nature 
was  sunny,  versatile,  artistic,  full  of  strong  affections,  and  capable 
of  inspiring  others  with  affections  as  strong.  Quick-witted,  of 
tenacious  memory,  a  ready  and  fluent  speaker,  gay  and  genial  in 
address,  an  artist,  a  musician,  he  was  at  the  same  time  an  inde- 
fatigable worker,  busy  at  books,  at  building,  at  handicraft.  Through- 
out his  life  he  won  the  love  of  women  ;  he  now  became  the  spiritual 
guide  of  a  woman  of  high  rank,  who  lived  only  for  charity  and  the 
entertainment  of  pilgrims.  "  He  ever  clave  to  her,  and  loved  her  in 
wondrous  fashion."  His  sphere  of  activity  widened  as  the  wealth 
of  his  devotee  was  placed  unreservedly  at  his  command  ;  we  see 
him  followed  by  a  train  of  pupils,  busy  with  literature,  writing, 
harping,  painting,  designing.  One  morning  a  lady  summons  him 
to  her  house  to  design  a  robe  which  she  is  embroidering.  As  he 
bends  with  her  maidens  over  their  toil,  his  harp  hung  upon  the  wall 
sounds  without  mortal  touch  tones  which  the  startled  ears  around 
frame  into  a  joyous  antiphon.  The  tie  which  bound  him  to  this 
scholar-life  was  broken  by  the  death  of  his  patroness  ;  and  towards 
the  close  of  Eadmund's  reign  Dunstan  was  again  called  to  the 
court.  But  the  old  jealousies  revived,  and  counting  the  game  lost 


T)tehiya  et 
uffa.^ 


S.    DUNSTAN    AT    THE    FEET    OF    CHRIST. 

from  a  drawing  by  Dunstari s  awn  hand,  in  the  Bodleian  Library. 


io6 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  VI 

THE  WEST- 
SAXON 
REALM 

893 

TO 
1013 


Dunstan's 
adminis- 
tration 


Eadred 
946-955 


Dunstan 

the 
Primate 


Ead-wig 
956-959 


he  prepared  again  to  withdraw.  The  king  had  spent  the  day  in 
the  chase  ;  the  red  deer  which  he  was  pursuing  dashed  over 
Cheddar  cliffs,  and  his  horse  only  checked  itself  on  the  brink  of  the 
ravine,  while  Eadmund  in  the  bitterness  of  death  was  repenting  of 
his  injustice  to  Dunstan.  He  was  at  once  summoned  on  the  king's 
return.  "  Saddle  your  horse,"  said  Eadmund,  "  and  ride  with  me !  " 
The  royal  train  swept  over  the  marshes  to  Dunstan's  home  ;  and 
greeting  him  with  the  kiss  of  peace,  the  king  seated  him  in  the 
priestly  chair  as  Abbot  of  Glastonbury. 

From  that  moment  Dunstan  may  have  exercised  influence  on 
public  affairs  ;  but  it  was  not  till  the  accession  of  Eadred,  Eadmund's 
brother,  that  his  influence  became  supreme  as  leading  counsellor  of 
the  crown.  We  may  trace  his  hand  in  the  solemn  proclamation  of 
the  king's  crowning.  Eadred's  election  was  the  first  national 
election  where  Briton,  Dane,  and  Englishman  were  alike  repre- 
sented ;  his  coronation  was  the  first  national  coronation,  the  first 
union  of  the  primate  of  the  north  and  the  primate  of  the  south  in 
setting  the  crown  on  the  head  of  one  who  was  to  rule  from  the 
Forth  to  the  Channel.  A  revolt  of  the  north  two  years  later 
was  subdued  ;  at  the  outbreak  of  a  fresh  rising  the  Archbishop 
of  York,  Wulfstan,  was  thrown  into  prison  ;  and  with  the  sub- 
mission of  the  Danelaw  in  954  the  long  work  of  Alfred's  house 
was  done.  Dogged  as  his  fight  had  been,  the  Dane  at  last 
owned  himself  beaten.  From  the  moment  of  Eadred's  final 
triumph  all  resistance  came  to  an  end.  The  north  was  finally 
brought  into  the  general  organization  of  the  English  realm,  and 
the  Northumbrian  under-kingdom  sank  into  an  earldom  under 
Oswulf.  The  new  might  of  the  royal  power  was  expressed  in  the 
lofty  titles  assumed  by  Eadred  ;  he  was  not  only  "  King  of  the 
Anglo-Saxons,"  but  "  Caesar  of  the  whole  of  Britain." 

The  death  of  Eadred  however  was  a  signal  for  the  outbreak  of 
political  strife.  The  boy-king  Eadwig  was  swayed  by  a  woman  of 
high  lineage,  ^Ethelgifu  ;  and  the  quarrel  between  her  and  the  older 
counsellors  of  Eadred  broke  into  open  strife  at  the  coronation  feast. 
On  the  young  king's  insolent  withdrawal  to  her  chamber  Dunstan, 
at  the  bidding  of  the  Witan,  drew  him  roughly  back  to  the  hall. 
But  before  the  year  was  over  the  wrath  of  the  boy-king  drove  the 
abbot  over  sea,  and  his  whole  system  went  with  him.  The  triumph 


I  THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS  107 

of  jEthclgifu  was  crowned  in  957  by  the  marriage  of  her  daughter      SEC.VI 

to  the  king.     The  marriage  was  uncanonical,  and  at  the  opening  THE  WEST- 
SAXON 

of  958  Archbishop  Odo  parted  the  king  from  his  wife  by  solemn      REALM 
sentence  ;  while  the   Mercians  and  Northumbrians  rose  in  revolt,         TO 
proclaimed    Eadwig's   brother    Eadgar   their   king,    and    recalled        — 
Dunstan,  who  received  successively  the  sees  of  Worcester  and  of 
London.     The  death  of  Eadwig  restored  the  unity  of  the  realm. 
Wesscx  submitted  to  the  king  who  had  been  already  accepted  by 

the  north,  and  Dunstan,  now 
raised  to  the  see  of  Canterbury, 
wielded  for  sixteen  years  as  the 
minister  of  Eadgar  the  secular 
and  ecclesiastical  powers  of 
the  realm.  Never  had  England  Eadgar 
COIN  OF  EADGAR.  seemed  so  strong  or  so  peaceful.  959-975 

Without,  a  fleet  cruising  round 

the  coast  swept  the  sea  of  pirates;  the  Danes  of  Ireland  had  changed 
from  foes  to  friends  ;  eight  vassal  kings  rowed  Eadgar  (so  ran  the 
legend)  in  his  boat  on  the  Dee.  The  settlement  of  the  north 
indicated  the  large  and  statesmanlike  course  which  Dunstan  was  to 
pursue  in  the  general  administration  of  the  realm.  He  seems  to 
have  adopted  from  the  beginning  a  national  rather  than  a  West- 
Saxon  policy.  The  later  charge  against  his  rule,  that  he  gave 
too  much  power  to  the  Dane  and  too  much  love  to  strangers, 
is  the  best  proof  of  the  unprovincial  temper  of  his  adminis- 
tration. He  employed  Danes  in  the  royal  service  and  pro- 
moted them  to  high  posts  in  Church  and  State.  In  the  code 
which  he  promulgated  he  expressly  reserved  to  the  north  its  old 
Danish  rights,  "with  as  good  laws  as  they  best  might  choose." 
His  stern  hand  restored  justice  and  order,  while  his  care  for 
commerce  -was  shown  in  the  laws  which  regulated  the  coinage  and 
the  enactments  of  common  weights  and  measures  for  the  realm. 
Thanet  was  ravaged  when  the  wreckers  of  its  coast  plundered  a 
trading  ship  from  York.  Commerce  sprang  into  a  wider  life. 
"  Men  of  the  Empire,"  traders  of  Lower  Lorraine  and  the  Rhine- 
land,-  "  men  of  Rouen,"  were  seen  in  the  streets  of  London,  and  it 
was  by  the  foreign  trade  which  sprang  up  in  Dunstan's  time  that 
London  rose  to  the  commercial  greatness  it  has  held  ever  since. 


io8 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP,  i 


SEC.  vi 


But  the  aims  of  the  primate-minister  reached  beyond  this  outer 
revival  of  prosperity  and  good  government.  The  Danish  wars  had 
dealt  rudely  with  Alfred's  hopes  ;  his  educational  movement  had 
ceased  with  his  death,  the  clergy  had  sunk  back  into  worldliness 
and  ignorance,  not  a  single  book  or  translation  had  been  added  to 
those  which  the  king  had  left.  Dunstan  resumed  the  task,  if  not  in 
the  larger-spirit  of  Alfred,  at  least  in  the  spirit  of  a  great  adminis- 
trator. The  reform  of  monasticism  which  had  begun  in  the  abbey 
of  Cluny  was  stirring  the  zeal  of  English  churchmen,  and  Eadgar 
showed  himself  zealous  in  the  cause  of  introducing  it  into  England. 


NOAH'S  ARK. 

MS.  Bodl.  Juniut  n,  c.  A.D.  1000. 


With  his  support  ^Ethelwold,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  carried  the 
new  Benedictinism  into  his  diocese,  and  a  few  years  later  Oswald, 
Bishop  of  Worcester,  brought  monks  into  his  own  cathedral  city. 
Tradition  ascribed  to  Eadgar  the  formation  of  forty  monasteries, 
and  it  was  to  his  time  that  English  monasticism  looked  back  in 
later  days  as  the  beginning  of  its  continuous  life.  But  after  all 
his  efforts,  monasteries  were  in  fact  only  firmly  planted  in  Wessex 
and  East  Anglia,  and  the  system  took  no  hold  in  Northumbria  or 
in  the  bulk  of  Mercia.  Dunstan  himself  took  little  part  in  it, 
though  his  influence  was  strongly  felt  in  the  literary  revival  which 
accompanied  the  revival  of  religious  activity.  He  himself  while 
abbot  was  famous  as  a  teacher.  His  great  assistant  ./Ethel wold 
raised  Abingdon  into  a  school  second  only  to  Glastonbury.  His 
other  great  helper,  Oswald,  laid  the  first  foundations  of  the  historic 


EADGAR    OFFERING     UP    HIS     CIIAKTER    FOR    THE    NEW     MINSTER,    WINCHESTER,    A.D.    966. 

MS.  Cott.  yesp.  A.  viii. 


no  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC,  vi      school  of  Worcester.     Abbo,  the    most   notable  scholar  in  Gaul, 
rH|A^KT-  came  from  Fleury  at  the  primate's  invitation. 

After  times  looked  back  fondly  to  "  Eadgar's  Law,"  as  it  was 
TO         called,  in  other  words  to  the   English  Constitution  as  it  shaped 

itself  in  the  hands  of  Eadgar's  minister.     A  number  of  influences 
Decline 

of        had  greatly  modified  the  older  order  which  had  followed  on  the 

rety  English  conquest.  Slavery  was  gradually  disappearing  before  the 
efforts  of  the  Church.  Theodore  had  denied  Christian  burial  to  the 
kidnapper,  and  prohibited  the  sale  of  children  by  their  parents, 
after  the  age  of  seven.  Ecgberht  of  York  punished  any  sale  of 
child  or  kinsfolk  with  excommunication.  The  murder  of  a  slave  by 
lord  or  mistress,  though  no  crime  in  the  eye  of  the  State,  became  a 
sin  for  which  penance  was  due  to  the  Church.  The  slave  was 
exempted  from  toil  on  Sundays  and  holydays  ;  here  and  there  he 
became  attached  to  the  soil  and  could  only  be  sold  with  it ;  some- 
times he  acquired  a  plot  of  ground,  and  was  suffered  to  purchase  his 
own  release.  ^Ethelstan  gave  the  slave-class  a  new  rank  in  the 
realm  by  extending  to  it  the  same  principles  of  mutual  responsibility 
for  crime  which  were  the  basis  of  order  among  the  free.  The 
Church  was  far  from  contenting  herself  with  this  gradual  elevation  ; 
Wilfrid  led  the  way  in  the  work  of  emancipation  by  freeing  two 
hundred  and  fifty  serfs  whom  he  found  attached  to  his  estate .  at 
Selsey.  Manumission  became  frequent  in  wills,  as  the  clergy 
taught  that  such  a  gift  was  a  boon  to  the  soul  of  the  dead.  At  the 
Synod  of  Chelsea  the  bishops  bound  themselves  to  free  at  their 
decease  all  serfs  on  their  estates  who  had  been  reduced  to  serfdom 
by  want  or  crime.  Usually  the  slave  was  set  free  before  the  altar 
or  in  the  church-porch,  and  the  Gospel-book  bore  written  on  its 
margins  the  record  of  his  emancipation.  Sometimes  his  lord 
placed  him  at  the  spot  where  four  roads  met,  and  bade  him  go 
whither  he  would.  In  the  more  solemn  form  of  the  law  his  master 
took  him  by  the  hand  in  full  shire-meeting,  showed  him  open  road 
and  door,  and  gave  him  the  lance  and  sword  of  the  freeman.  The 
slave-trade  from  English  ports  was  prohibited  by  law,  but  the 
prohibition  long  remained  ineffective.  A  hundred  years  later  than 
Dunstan  the  wealth  of  English  nobles  was  said  sometimes  to  spring 
from  breeding  slaves  for  the  market  It  was  not  till  the  reign  of 
the  first  Norman  king  that  the  preaching  of  Wulfstan  and  the 


THE  ENGLISH  KINGDOMS 


in 


SEC.  VI 


THE  WEST- 
SAXON 
REALM 

893 

To 
1013 


influence  of  Lanfranc  suppressed  the  trade  in  its  last  stronghold, 
the  port  of  Bristol. 

But  the  decrease  of  slavery  went  on  side  by  side  with  an  increas- 
ing degradation  of  the  bulk  of  the  people.     Political  and  social 
changes  had  long  been  modifying  the  whole  structure  of  society  ; 
and  the  very  foundations  of  the  old  order  were  broken  up  in  the    English 
degradation  of  the  freeman,  and  the  upgrowth  of  the  lord  with  his  l 
dependent  villeins.     The  political  changes  which  were  annihilating 
the  older  English  liberty  were  in  great  measure  due  to  a  change  in 


KING    AND    COURT. 
JlfS.  Bodl.  Junius  n,  c.  A.D.  1000. 


the  character  of  English  kingship.  As  the  lesser  English  kingdoms 
had  drawn  together,  the  wider  dominion  of  the  king  had  removed 
him  further  and  further  from  his  people,  and  clothed  him  with  a 
mysterious  dignity.  Every  reign  raised  him  higher  in  the  social 
scale.  The  bishop,  once  ranked  his  equal  in  value  of  life,  sank  to 
the  level  of  the  ealdorman.  The  ealdorman  himself,  once  the 
hereditary  ruler  of  a  smaller  state,  became  a  mere  delegate  of  the 
king,  with  an  authority  curtailed  in  every  shire  by  that  of  the  royal 
reeves — officers  despatched  to  levy  the  royal  revenues  and  admin- 
ister the  royal  justice.  Religion  deepened  the  sense  of  awe.  The 
king,  if  he  was  no  longer  sacred  as  the  son  of  Woden,  was  yet  more 


112 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  VI 

THE  WEST- 
SAXON 
REALM 

893 

TO 
1013 


Decline 

of  the 

English 

Freeman 


sacred  as  "  the  Lord's  Anointed  "  ;  and  treason  against  him  became 
the  worst  of  crimes.  The  older  nobility  of  blood  died  out  before 
the  new  nobility  of  the  court.  From  the  oldest  times  of  Germanic 
history  each  chief  or  king  had  his  war-band,  his  comrades,  warriors 
bound  personally  to  him  by  their  free  choice,  sworn  to  fight  for  him 
to  the  death,  and  avenge  his  cause  as  their  own.  When  Cynewulf 
of  Wessex  was  foully  slain  at  Merton  his  comrades  "  ran  at  once  to 
the  spot,  each  as  he  was  ready  and  as  fast  as  he  could,"  and  despis- 
ing all  offers  of  life,  fell  fighting  over  the  corpse  of  their  lord.  The 
fidelity  of  the  war-band  was  rewarded  with  grants  from  the  royal 
domain  ;  the  king  became  their  lord  or  hlaford,  "  the  dispenser  of 
gifts ; "  the  comrade  became  his  "  servant "  or  thegn.  Personal 
service  at  his  court  was  held  not  to  degrade  but  to  ennoble.  "  Cup- 
thegn,"  and  "  horse-thegn,"  and  "hordere,"  or  treasurer,  became 
great  officers  of  state.  The  thegn  advanced  with  the  advance  of 
the  king.  He  absorbed  every  post  of  honour  ;  he  became  caldor- 
man,  reeve,  bishop,  judge  ;  while  his  wealth  increased  as  the  common 
folkland  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  king,  and  was  carved  out  by 
him  into  estates  for  his  dependents. 

The  principle  of  personal  allegiance  embodied  in  the  new 
nobility  tended  to  widen  into  a  theory  of  general  dependence. 
From  Alfred's  day  it  was  assumed  that  no  man  could  exist  without 
a  lord.  The  ravages  and  the  long  insecurity  of  the  Danish  wars 
aided  to  drive  the  free  farmer  to  seek  protection  from  the  thegn. 
His  freehold  was  surrendered  to  be  received  back  as  a  fief,  laden 
with  service  to  its  lord.  Gradually  the  "  lordless  man  "  became  a 
sort  of  outlaw  in  the  realm.  The  free  churl  sank  into  the  villein, 
and  changed  from  the  freeholder  who  knew  no  superior  but  God 
and  the  law,  to  the  tenant  bound  to  do  service  to  his  lord,  to  follow 
him  to  the  field,  to  look  to  his  court  for  justice,  and  render  days  of 
service  in  his  demesne.  While  he  lost  his  older  freedom  he 
gradually  lost,  too,  his  share  in  the  government  of  the  state.  The 
life  of  the  earlier  English  state  was  gathered  up  in.  its  folk-moot. 
There,  through  its  representatives  chosen  in  every  hundred-moot, 
the  folk  had  exercised  its  own  sovereignty  in  matters  of  justice  as 
of  peace  and  war  ;  while  beside  the  folk-moot,  and  acting  with  it, 
had  stood  the  Witenagemot,  the  group  of  "  wise  men  "  gathered  to 
give  rede  to  the  king  and  through  him  to  propose  a  course  of  action 


I  THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS  113 

to  the  folk.     The  preliminary  discussion  rested  with  the  nobler  sort,      SEC.  vi 
the  final  decision  with  all.    The  clash  of  arms,  the  "  Yea  "  or  "  Nay  "  THE  WEST- 

J  SAXON 

of  the  crowd,  were  its  vote.     But  when  by  the  union  of  the  lesser      REALM 

893 

realms  the  folk  sank  into  a  portion  of  a  wider  state,  the  folk-moot         TO 

1013 

sank  with  it ;  political  supremacy  passed  to  the  court  of  the  far-off 

lord,  and  the  influence  of  the  people  on  government  came  to  an 
end.  Nobles  indeed  could  still  gather  round  the  king ;  and  while 
the  folk-moot  passes  out  of  political  notice,  the  Witenagemot  is 
heard  of  more  and  more  as  a  royal  council.  It  shared  in  the  higher 
justice,  the  imposition  of  taxes,  the  making  of  laws,  the  conclusion 
of  treaties,  the  control  of  war,  the  disposal  of  public  lands,  the 
appointment  of  great  officers  of  state.  There  were  times  when  it 
even  claimed  to  elect  or  depose  the  king.  But  with  these  powers 
the  bulk  of  the  nobles  had  really  less  and  less  to  do.  The  larger 
the  kingdom  the  greater  grew  the  distance  from  their  homes  ;  and 
their  share  in  the  general  deliberations  of  the  realm  dwindled  to 
nothing.  Practically  the  national  council  shrank  into  a  gathering 
of  the  great  officers  of  Church  and  State  with  the  royal  thegns,  and 
the  old  English  democracy  passed  into  an  oligarchy  of  the  closest 
kind.  The  only  relic  of  the  popular  character  of  English  govern- 
ment lay  at  last  in  the  ring  of  citizens  who  at  London  or  Winchester 
gathered  round  the  wise  men  and  shouted  their  "  Ay  "  or  "  Nay  " 
at  the  election  of  a  king. 

It  is  in  the  degradation  of  the  class  in  which  its  true  strength     Fall  of 
lay  that  we  must  look  for  the  cause  of  the  ruin  which  already  hung     Jaxon 
over  the  West-Saxon  realm.       Eadgar  was  but  thirty-two  when  he  Kingdom 
died  in  975  ;  and  the  children  he  left  were  mere  boys.      His  death 
opened  the  way  for  bitter  political  strife  among  the  nobles  of  his 
court,  whose  quarrel  took  the  form  of  a  dispute  over  the  succession. 
Civil  war  was,  in  fact,  only  averted  by  the  energy  of  the  primate  ; 
seizing  his  cross,  he  settled  the  question  of  Eadgar's  successor  by 
the  coronation  of  his  son  Eadward,  and  confronted  his  enemies   Bad-ward 

the 

successfully  in  two  assemblies  of  the  Wise  Men.      In  that  of  Cains     Martyr 
the  floor  of  the  room  gave  way,  and  according  to  monkish  tradition     97S-978 
Dunstan  and  his  friends  alone  remained  unhurt.      But  not  even  the 
fame  of  a  miracle  sufficed  to  turn  the  tide.     The  assassination  of 
Eadward  was  followed  by  the  triumph  of  Dunstan's  opponents,  who 
broke  out  in  "great  joy"  at  the  coronation  of  Eadward's  brother 
VOL.  1—8 


114 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  VI 

THE  WEST- 
SAXON 
REALM 

893 

TO 
1013 

^Ethelred 

the 

Unready 
979-1016 


^Ethelred,  a  child  of  ten  years  old.  The  government  of  the  realm 
passed  into  the  hands  of  the  great  nobles  who  upheld  yEthelred, 
and  Dunstan  withdrew  powerless  to  Canterbury,  where  he  died 
nine  years  later. 

During  the  eleven  years  from  979  to  990,  when  the  young  king 
reached  manhood,  there  is  scarcely  any  in- 
ternal history  to  record.  New  danger  how- 
ever threatened  from  abroad.  The  North 
was  girding  itself  for  a  fresh  onset  on  Eng- 
land. The  Scandinavian  peoples  had  drawn 
together  into  their  kingdoms  of  Denmark, 
Sweden,  and  Norway ;  and  it  was  no  longer 
in  isolated  bands  but  in  national  hosts  that 
they  were  about  to  seek  conquests  in  the 
South.  The  seas  were  again  thronged  with 
northern  freebooters,  and  pirate  fleets,  as  of 
old,  appeared  on  the  English  coast.  In  991  came  the  first  burst 
of  the  storm,  when  a  body  of  Norwegian  Wikings  landed,  and 


SILVER  PENDANT. 
Figure  of  woman  carrying 

drinking  horn. 
Montelius,  "  Civilization 

of  Sweden." 


THE  RAMSUNDSBERG,  WEST  SODERMANLAND,  CARVED  WITH  SCENES  FROM 
SIGURD  FAFNISBANE'S  SAGA. 

Montelius,    "  Civilization   of  Sweden." 


utterly  defeated  the  host  of  East  Anglia  on  the  field  of  Maldon. 
In  the  next  year  ^Ethelred  was  forced  to  buy  a  truce  from 
the  invaders  and  to  suffer  them  to  settle  in  the  land ;  while 


THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS 


he  strengthened  himself  by  a  treaty  of  alliance  with  Normandy,     SEC.  vi 
which  was  now  growing  into  a  great  power  over  sea.      A   fresh  TH|  WEST" 


OAK    SHIP    FROM    TUNE,    SOUTH    NORWAY. 
AIonteKus,  "  Civilization  of  Sweden." 


attempt  to  expel  the  invaders  only  proved  the  signal  for  the 
gathering  of  pirate-hosts  such  as  England  had  never  seen  before, 
under  Swein  and  Olaf,  claimants  to  the  Danish  and  Norwegian 


SHIP     FROM    GOKSTAD. 
Montelins,   "Civilization  of  Sweden 


thrones.  Their  withdrawal  in  995  was  followed  by  fresh  attacks  in 
997  ;  danger  threatened  from  Normans  and  from  Ost-men,  with 
wikings  from  Man,  and  northmen  from  Cumberland ;  while  the 


n6 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC-  VI 

THSA?ONST~ 
.REALM 

TO 


utter  weakness  of  the  realm  was  shown  by  ^Ethelred's  taking  into 
his  service  Danish  mercenaries,  who  seem  to  have  been  quartered 
through  Wessex  as  a  defence  against  their  brethren.  Threatened 
with  a  new  attack  by  Swein,  who  was  now  king,  not  only  of 
Denmark,  but  by  the  defeat  and  death  of  Olaf,  of  Norway  itself, 
^Ethelred  bound  Normandy  to  his  side  by  a  marriage  with  its 


NOAKS    ARK,    REPRESENTED    AS    A    DANISH    SHIP. 
JIIS.  Bod'..  J :ini:is  n,  c.  A.D.    1000. 

duke's  sister  Emma.     But  a  sudden  panic  betrayed  him  into  an 

act  of  basest  treachery  which  ruined  his  plans  of  defence  at  home. 

Massacre    Urged  by  secret  orders  from  the  king,  the  West-Saxons  rose  on 

of  Danes    gt  Brice's  day  and  pitilessly  massacred  the  Danes  scattered  among 

them.     Gunhild,  the  sister  of  their  king  Swein,  a  Christian  convert, 

and  one  of  the  hostages  for  the   peace,  saw  husband    and    child 

butchered  before  her  eyes  ere  she  fell  threatening  vengeance  on 

her  murderers.     Swein  swore  at  the  news  to  wrest  England  from 

1003- 1007  ^Ethelred.      For  four  years  he  marched  through  the  length  and 


i  THE    ENGLISH    KINGDOMS  117 

breadth  of  southern  and  eastern  England, "  lighting  his  war-beacons      SEC.  vi 
as  he  went "  in  blazing  homestead  and  town.     Then  for  a  heavy  T"?  WKET 

*          SAXON 

bribe  he  withdrew,  to  prepare  for  a  later  and  more  terrible  onset.      REALM 

But  there  was  no  rest  for  the  realm.     The  fiercest  of  the  Norwegian         TO 

1013 
jarls  took  his  place,  and  from  Wessex  the  war  extended  over  East 

Anglia  and  Mercia.  Canterbury  was  taken  and  sacked',  ^Elfheah 
the  Archbishop  dragged  to  Greenwich,  and  there  in  default  of 
ransom  brutally  slain.  The  Danes  set  him  in  the  midst  of  their 
husting,  pelting  him  with  stones  and  ox-horns,  till  one  more  pitiful 
than  the  rest  clave  his  skull  with  an  axe. 

But  a  yet  more  terrible  attack  was  preparing  under  Swein  in  the 
North,  and  in  1013  his  fleet  entered  the  Humber,  and  called  on  the 
Danelaw  to  rise  in  his  aid.  Northumbria,  East  Anglia,  the  Five 
Boroughs,  all  England  north  of  Watling  Street,  submitted  to  him 
at  Gainsborough.  ^Ethelred  shrank  into  a  King  of  Wessex,  and  of 
a  Wessex  helpless  before  the  foe.  Resistance  was  impossible. 
The  war  was  terrible  but  short.  Everywhere  the  country  was 
pitilessly  harried,  churches  plundered,  men  slaughtered.  But  with 
the  one  exception  of  London,  there  was  no  attempt  at  defence. 
Oxford  and  Winchester  flung  open  their  gates.  The  thegns  of 
Wessex  submitted  to  the  northmen  at  Bath.  Even  London  was 
forced  at  last  to  give  way,  and  ^Ethelred  fled  over  sea  to  a  refuge 
in  Normandy.  With  the  flight  of  the  king  ended  the  long  struggle 
of  Wessex  for  supremacy  over  Britain.  The  task  which  had  baffled 
the  energies  of  Eadwine  and  Offa,  and  had  proved  too  hard  for  the 
valour  of  Eadward  and  the  statesmanship  of  Dunstan,  the  task  of 
uniting  England  finally  into  a  single  nation,  was  now  to  pass  to 
other  hands. 


CHAPTER    II 

ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN   KINGS 
1013—1204 

Section  I. — The   Danish    Kings 

[Authorities. — \Ve  are  still  aided  by  the  collections  of  royal  laws  and 
charters.  The  English  Chronicle  is  here  of  great  importance ;  its  various 
copies  differ  much  in  tone,  &c.,  from  one  another,  and  may  to  some  extent  be 
regarded  as  distinct  works.  Florence  of  Worcester  is  probably  the  translator 
of  a  valuable  copy  of  the  Chronicle  which  has  disappeared.  For  the  reign  of 
Cnut  see  Green's  "Conquest  of  England."  The  authority  of  the  contemporary 
biographer  of  Eadward  (in  Luard's  "  Lives  of  Eadward  the  Confessor/' 
published  by  the  Master  of  the  Rolls)  is  "primary,"  says  Mr.  Freeman,  "for 
all  matters  strictly  personal  to  the  King  and  the  whole  family  of  Godwine. 
He  is,  however,  very  distinctly  not  an  historian,  but  a  biographer,  sometimes 
a  laureate."  All  modern  accounts  of  this  reign  have  been  superseded  by  the 
elaborate  history  of  Mr.  Freeman  ("  Norman  Conquest,"  vol.  ii.).  For  the 
Danish  kings  and  the  House  of  Godwine,  see  the  "  Conquest  of  England," 
by  Mr.  Green.] 

The  BRITAIN  had  become  England  in  the  five  hundred  years  that 

Rule"  fo^owc<i  the  landing  of  Hengest,  and  its  conquest  had  ended  in 
the  settlement  of  its  conquerors,  in  their  conversion  to  Christianity, 
in  the  birth  of  a  national  literature,  of  an  imperfect  civilization,  of 
a  rough  political  order.  But  through  the  whole  of  this  earlier  age 
every  attempt  to  fuse  the  various  tribes  of  conquerors  into  a  single 
nation  had  failed.  The  effort  of  Northumbria  to  extend  her  rule 
over  all  England  had  been  foiled  by  the  resistance  of  Mercia  ;  that 
of  Mercia  by  the  resistance  of  Wessex.  Wessex  herself,  even 
under  the  guidance  of  great  kings  and  statesmen,  had  no  sooner 
reduced  the  country  to  a  seeming  unity  than  local  independence 
rose  again  at  the  call  of  the  Danes.  The  tide  of  supremacy  rolled 
in  fact  backwards  and  forwards  ;  now  the  South  won  lordship  over 


CHAP.  II 


ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS 


119 


the  North,  now  the  North  won  lordship  over  the  South.  But 
whatever  titles  kings  might  assume,  or  however  imposing  their  rule 
might  appear,  Northumbrian  remained  apart  from  West-Saxon, 
Dane  from  Englishman.  A  common  national  sympathy  held 
the  country  roughly  together,  but  a  real  national  union  had 
yet  to  come. 

Through  the  two  hundred  years  that  lie  between  the  flight  of 
^Ethelred  from  England  to  Normandy  and  that  of  John  from 
Normandy  to  England  our  story  is  a  story  of  foreign  rule.  Kings 
from  Denmark  were  succeeded  by  kings  from  Normandy,  and 
these  by  kings  from  Anjou.  Under  Dane,  Norman,  or  Angevin, 
Englishmen  were  a  subject  race,  conquered  and  ruled  by  foreign 
masters  ;  and  yet  it  was  in  these  years  of  subjection  that  England 
first  became  really  England.  Provincial  differences  were  crushed 
into  national  unity  by  the  pressure  of  the  stranger.  The  same 
pressure  redressed  the  wrong  which  had  been  done  to  the  fabric  of 
national  society  by  the  degra- 
dation of  the  free  landowner  at 
the  close  of  the  preceding  age 
into  a  feudal  dependent  on  his 
lord.  The  English  lords  them- 
selves sank  into  a  middle  class 
as  they  were  pushed  from  their 
place  by  the  foreign  baronage 
who  settled  on  English  soil ; 
and  this  change  was  accom- 
panied by  a  gradual  elevation 
of  the  class  of  servile  and 
semi-servile  cultivators  which 
gradually  lifted  them  into  al- 
most complete  freedom.  The 
middle-class  which  was  thus 
created  was  reinforced  by  the 
upg-owth  of  a  corresponding 
class  in  our  towns.  Commerce 
and  trade  were  promoted  by 

the  justice  and  policy  of  the  foreign  kings  ;  and  with  their  advance 
rose   the   political   importance   of  the   trader.      The  boroughs   of 


FIGURE   OF    CHRIST. 

Eleventh  Century. 
MS.  Cott.  Claud.  B.  iv. 


SEC.  I 

THE 
DANISH 
KINGS 

1013 

TO 
1042 


I2O 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  I 

THE 

DANISH 

KINGS 

1013 

TO 
1042 


England,  which  at  the  opening  of  this  period  were  for  the  most 
part  mere  villages,  were  rich  enough  at  its  close  to  buy  liberty  from 
the  Crown.  Rights  of  self-government,  of  free  speech,  of  common 
deliberation,  which  had  passed  from  the  people  at  large  into-  the 


BOOK-SHRINE    OR    CUMDACri    OK    MOLAISE,    A.D.    IOOI — 1025. 
Stokes,  "Early  Christian  Art  in  Ireland." 


hands  of  its  nobles,  revived  in  the  charters  and  councils  of  the 
towns.  A  moral  revival  followed  hard  on  this  political  develope- 
ment.  The  occupation  of  every  see  and  abbacy  by  strangers  who 
could  only  speak  to  their  flocks  in  an  unknown  tongue  had  severed 
the  higher  clergy  from  the  lower  priesthood  and  the  people ;  but 


II 


ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS 


121 


religion  became  a  living  thing  as  it  passed  to  the  people  themselves, 
and  hermit  and  friar  carried  spiritual  life  home  to  the  heart  of  the 
nation  at  large.  At  the  same  time  the  close  connexion  with  the 
Continent  which  foreign  conquest  brought  about  secured  for 
England  a  new  communion  with  the  artistic  and  intellectual  life  of 
the  world  without  her.  The  old  mental  stagnation  was  broken  up 
and  art  and  literature  covered  England  with  great  buildings  and 
busy  schools.  Time  for  this  varied  progress  was  gained  by  the 
long  peace  which  England  owed  to  the  firm  government  of  her 


SEC.  I 

THE 
DANISH 
KINGS 

1013 

TO 
1042 


WOODEN    CHURCH,   GREENSTEAD,   ESSEX,   A.D.    TOIJ    (AS    IT    WAS    IN    1748). 

"  Vetusta  Monumenta." 


kings,  while  their  political  ability  gave  her  administrative  order, 
and  their  judicial  reforms  built  up  the  fabric  of  her  law.  In  a 
word,  it  is  to  the  stern  discipline  of  these  two  hundred  years  that 
we .  owe  not  rnerely  English  wealth  and  English  freedom,  but 
England  itself. 

The  first  of  our  foreign  masters  was  the  Dane.  The  countries  of 
Scandinavia  which  had  so  long  been  the  mere  starting-points  of 
the  pirate-bands  who  had  ravaged  England  and  Ireland  had  now 


Our 
Danish 
Kings 


122 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  I 


THE 
DANISH 

KINGS 

1013 

TO 
IO42 


Cnut 


COIN    OF    CNUT. 


settled  down  into  comparative  order.  It  was  the  aim  of  Swein  to 
unite  them  in  a  great  Scandinavian  Empire,  of  which  England 
should  be  the  head  ;  and  this  project,  interrupted  for  a  time  by  his 
death,  was  resumed  with  yet  greater  vigour  by  his  son  Cnut, 
Fear  of  the  Dane  was  still  great  in  the  land,  and  Cnut  had  no 
sooner  appeared  off  the  English  coast  than  Wessex,  Mercia,  and 

Northumberland  joined  in  owning 
him  for  their  lord,  and  in  discarding 
again  the  rule  of  yEthelred,  who  had 
returned  on  the  death  of  Swein. 
When  yEthelred's  death  in  1016 
raised  his  son  Eadmund  Ironside  to 
the  throne,  the  loyalty  of  London 

enabled  him  to  struggle  bravely  for  a  few  months  against  the 
Danes  ;  but  a  decisive  victory  at  Assandun  and  the  death  of  his 
rival  left  Cnut  master  of  the  realm.  Conqueror  as  he  was,  the  Dane 
was  no  foreigner  in  the  sense  that  the  Norman  was  a  foreigner  after 
him.  His  language  differed  little  from  the  English  tongue.  He 
brought  in  no  new  system  of  tenure  or  government.  Cnut  ruled,  in 
fact,  not  as  a  foreign  conqueror  but  as  a  native  king.  The  goodwill 
and  tranquillity  of  England  were  necessary  for  the  success  of  his 
larger  schemes  in  the  north,  where  the  arms  of  his  English  subjects 
aided  him  in  later  years  in  uniting  Denmark  and  Norway  beneath 
his  sway.  Dismissing  therefore  his  Danish  "  host,"  and  retaining" 
only  a  trained  body  of  household  troops  or  hus-carls  to  serve  in 
sudden  emergencies,  Cnut  boldly  relied  for  support  within  his 
realm  on  the  justice  and  good  government  he  secured  it.  His  aim 
1016-1035  during  twenty  years  seems  to  have  been  to  obliterate  from  men's 
minds  the  foreign  character  of  his  rule,  and  the  bloodshed  in  which 
it  had  begun.  The  change  in  himself  was  as  startling  as  the 
change  in  his  policy.  When  he  first  appears  in  England,  it  is  as 
the  mere  northman,  passionate,  revengeful,  uniting  the  guile  of  the 
savage  with  his  thirst  for  blood.  His  first  acts  of  government  were 
a  series  of  murders.  Eadric  of  Mercia,  whose  aid  had  given  him 
the  crown,  was  felled  by  an  axe-blow  at  the  King's  signal ;  a 
murder  removed  Eadwig,  the  brother  of  Eadmund  Ironside,  while 
the  children  of  Eadmund  were  hunted  even  into  Hungary  by  his 
ruthless  hate.  But  from  a  savage  such  as  this  Cnut  rose  suddenly 


II 


ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS 


123 


into  a  wise  and  temperate  king.  Stranger  as  he  was,  he  fell  back 
on  "  Eadgar's  law,"  on  the  old  constitution  of  the  realm,  and 
owned  no  difference  between  conqueror  and  conquered,  between 
Dane  and  Englishman.  By 
the  creation  of  four  earldoms, 
those  of  Mercia,  Northum- 
berland, Wessex,  and  East 
Anglia,  he  recognized  pro- 
vincial independence,  but  he 
drew  closer  than  of  old  the 
ties  which  bound  the  rulers 
of  these  great  dependencies 
to  the  Crown.  He  even 
identified  himself  with  the 
patriotism  which  had  with- 
stood the  stranger.  The 
Church  had  been  the  centre 
of  national  resistance  to  the 
Dane,  but  Cnut  sought  above 
all  its  friendship.  He  paid 
homage  to  the  cause  for 
which  ^Elfheah  had  died,  by 
his  translation  of  the  Arch- 
bishop's body  to  Canterbury. 
He  atoned  for  his  father's 
ravages  by  costly  gifts  to 
the  religious  houses.  He 
protected  English  pilgrims 
against  the  robber-lords  of 
the  Alps.  His  love  for 
monks  broke  out  in  the  song 
which  he  composed  as  he 
listened  to  their  chant  at 
Ely  :  "  Merrily  sang  the 
monks  in  Ely  when  Cnut 

King  rowed  by"  across  the  vast  fen-waters  that  surrounded  their 
abbey.  "Row,  boatmen,  near  the  land,  and  hear  we  these 
monks  sing." 


SEC.  I 

THE 
DANISH 
KINGS 


1  eolle  la  ioclato  j?e  1C  oncenr  hrf  Ifcej 

CNUT    AND    EMMA    MAKING  A   DONATION    TO 

NEW    MINSTER. 
Stowe  MS.  Ecclesiastica  Hi.  32. 


I24  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  i  Cnut's  letter  from  Rome  to  his    English   subjects  marks   the 

grandeur  of  his  character  and  the  noble  conception  he  had  formed 
of  kingship.  "  I  have  vowed  to  God  to  lead  a  right  life  in  all 
things,"  wrote  the  King,  "  to  rule  justly  and  piously  my  realms  and 
subjects,  and  to  administer  just  judgement  to  all.  If  heretofore  I 
have  done  aught  beyond  what  was  just,  through  hcadiness  or 
negligence  of  youth,  I  am  ready  with  God's  help  to  amend  it 
utterly."  No  royal  officer,  either  for  fear  of  the  King  or  for  favour 
of  any,  is  to  consent  to  injustice,  none  is  to  do  wrong  to  rich  or  poor 
"as  they  would  value  my  friendship  and  their  own  well-being." 
He  especially  denounces  unfair  exactions  :  "  I  have  no  need  that 
money  be  heaped  together  for  me  by  unjust  demands."  "  I  have 
sent  this  letter  before  me,"  Cnut  ends,  "  that  all  the  people  of  my 
realm  may  rejoice  in  my  well-doing  ;  for  as  you  yourselves  know, 
never  have  I  spared  nor  will  I  spare  to  spend  myself  and  my  toil  in 
what  is  needful  and  good  for  my  people." 

Cnut's  greatest  gift  to  his  people  was  that  of  peace.     With  him 
at  peace    began  the  long  internal  tranquillity  which  was  from  this  time  to  be 


CARTS. 

Eleventh  Century. 
MS.  Cott.  Claud.  D.  TV. 


the  special  note  of  our  national  history.  During  two  hundred  years, 
with  the  one  terrible  interval  of  the  Norman  Conquest,  and  the 
disturbance  under  Stephen,  England  alone  among  the  kingdoms  of 
Europe  enjoyed  unbroken  repose.  The  wars  of  her  Kings  lay  far 
from  her  shores,  in  France  or  Normandy,  or,  as  with  Cnut,  in  the 
more  distant  lands  of  the  North.  The  stern  justice  of  their  govern- 
ment secured  order  within.  The  absence  of  internal  discontent 


ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS 


under  Cnut,  perhaps  too  the  exhaustion  of  the  kingdom  after  the 
terrible  Danish  inroads,  is  proved  by  its  quiet  during  his  periods  of 
absence.  Everything  witnesses  to  the  growing  wealth  and  prosperity 


SEC.  I 

THE 
DANISH 

KlNGl 

1013 

TO 
1042 


AGRICULTURE. 

Eleventh  Century. 
MS.  Cott.  Claud.  B.  iv. 


of  the  country.  A  great  part  of  English  soil  was  indeed  still  utterly 
uncultivated.  Wide  reaches  of  land  were  covered  with  wood, 
thicket,  and  scrub  ;  or  consisted  of  heaths  and  moor.  In  both  the 


AGRICULTURE. 

Eleventh  Century. 

MS.  Harl.  603. 


east  and  the  west  there  were  vast  tracts  of  marsh  land  ;  fens  nearly 
one  hundred  miles  long  severed  East  Anglia  from  the  midland 


126 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  I 

THE 

DANISH 

KINGS 

IOI3 

TO 
IO42 


Pl.OUGHTNV,. 

Elevemh  Century 

MS.  Hart.  603. 


counties  ;  sites  like  that  of  Glastonbury  or  Athelney  were  almost 
inaccessible.  The  beaver  still  haunted  marshy  hollows  such  as 
those  which  lay  about 
Beverley,  the  London 
craftsmen  chased  the 
wild  boar  and  the 
wild  ox  in  the  woods 
of  Hampstead,  while 
wolves  prowled  round 
the  homesteads  of  the 
North.  But  peace  and 
the  industry  it  en- 
couraged were  telling 
on  this  waste ;  stag 
and  wolf  were  retreat- 
ing before  the  face  of  man,  the  farmer's  axe  was  ringing  in 
the  forest,  and  villages  were  springing  up  in  the  clearings.  The 
growth  of  commerce  was  seen  in  the  rich  trading-ports  of  the 
eastern  coast.  The  main  trade  lay  probably  in  skins  and  ropes  and 
ship  masts ;  and  above  all  in  the  iron  and  steel  that  the  Scan- 
dinavian lands  so 
long  supplied  to 
Britain.  But  Dane 
and  Norwegian 
were  traders  over  a 
yet  wider  field  than 
the  northern  seas  ; 
their  barks  entered 
the  Mediterranean, 
while  the  overland 
route  through 
Russia  brought  the 
wares  of  Constanti- 
nople and  the  East. 
"  What  do  you 
bring  to  us  ? "  the 

merchant  is  asked  in  an  old  English  dialogue.      "  I  bring  skins, 
silks,  costly   gems,  and   gold,"  he  answers,  "besides  various  gar- 


MAKING    WATTLED    EN  CLOSURE. 
Eleventh  Century. 
MS.  Harl.  603. 


II 


127 


SAILING    VESSELS. 


BOATS. 

Eleventh  Century. 
MS.  Hart.  603. 


SEC.  I 

THE 
DANISH 
KINGS 

1013 

TO 
1042 


ments,  pigment,  wine,  oil,  and  ivory,  with  brass,  and  copper,  and 
tin,  silver  and  gold,  and  such  like."  Men  from  the  Rhineland 
and  from  Normandy,  too,  moored  their  vessels  along  the  Thames, 
on  whose  rude  wharves  were  piled  a  strange  medley  of  goods : 
pepper  and  spices  from  the  far  East,  crates  of  gloves  and  gray 
cloths,  it  may  be  from  the  Lombard  looms,  sacks  of  wool,  iron- 
work from  Liege,  butts  of  French  wine  and  vinegar,  and  with 
them  the  rural  products  of  the  country  itself — cheese,  butter,  lard 
and  eggs,  with  live  swine  and  fowls. 

Cnut's  one  aim  was  to  win  the  love  of  his  people,  and  all  tradition       Fal1 

of  the 

shows  how  wonderful  was  his  success.     But  the  greatness  of  his  rule    Danish 

Rule 


hung  solely  on  the  greatness  of  his  temper,  and  at  his  death  the 
empire   he   had   built  up   at   once  fell  to  pieces.     Denmark  and 
England,  parted  for  a  few  years  by  the  accession  of  his  son  Harald     Harald 
to   the   throne  of  the   last,  were   re-united   under   a  second  son,    I03S-I039 
Ilarthacnut ;  but  the  love  which  Cnut's  justice  had  won  turned  to 
hatred  before  the  lawlessness  of  his  successors.     The  long  peace 
sickeried    men    of  this  fresh  outburst  of  bloodshed  and  violence. 
"Never  was  a  bloodier  deed  done  in  the  land  since   the  Danes 
came,"  ran  the  popular  song,  when  Harald's  men  seized  Alfred,  a 


cnitt 
1040-1042 


i28  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SKC.  ii      brother  of  Eadmund  Ironside,  who  had  returned  to  England  from 
THE       Normandy.      Every    tenth    man    was    killed,    the    rest    sold    for 

ENGLISH 

RESTORA-    slaves,  and  Alfred  himself  blinded  and  left  to  die  at  Ely.  Harthacnut, 

TION  / 

1042       more  savage  even  than  his  predecessor,  dug  up  his  brother's  body 

TO 

1066  and  flung  it  into  a  marsh  ;  while  a  rising  at  Worcester  against  his 
hus-carls  was  punished  by  the  burning  of  the  town  and  the  pillage 
of  the  shire.  His  death  was  no  less  brutal  than  his  life  ;  "he  died 
as  he  stood  at  his  drink  in  the  house  of  Osgod  Clapa  at  Lambeth." 
England  wearied  of  kings  like  these :  but  their  crimes  helped  her 
to  free  herself  from  the  impossible  dream  of  Cnut.  The  North,  still 
more  barbarous  than  herself,  could  give  her  no  new  element  of 
progress  or  civilization.  It  was  the  consciousness  of  this  and  the 
hatred  of  such  rulers  as  Harald  and  Harthacnut  which  co-operated 
with  the  old  feeling  of  reverence  for  the  past  in  calling  back  the  line 
of  JElfred  to  the  throne. 


Section  II. — The  English  Restoration,  1042 — 1066 

Godwine  It  is  in  such  transitional  moments  of  a  nation's  history  that  it 
needs  the  cool  prudence,  the  sensitive  selfishness,  the  quick  per- 
ception of  what  is  possible,  which  distinguished  the  adroit  politician 
whom  the  death  of  Cnut  left  supreme  in  England.  Godwine  is 
memorable  in  our  history  as  the  first  English  statesman  who 
was  neither  king  nor  priest.  Of  obscure  origin,  his  ability  had 
raised  him  high  in  the  royal  favour  ;  he  was  allied  to  Cnut  by 
marriage,  entrusted  by  him  with  the  earldom  of  Wessex,  and  at  last 
made  viceroy  or  justiciar  in  the  government  of  the  realm.  In  the 
wars  of  Scandinavia  he  had  shown  courage  and  skill  at  the  head  of 
a  body  of  English  troops  who  supported  Cnut,  but  his  true  field  of 
action  lay  at  home.  Shrewd,  eloquent,  an  active  administrator, 
Godwine  united  vigilance,  industry,  and  caution  with  a  singular 
dexterity  in  the  management  of  men.  During  the  troubled  years 
that  followed  the  death  of  Cnut  he  had  done  his  best  to  continue 
his  master's  policy  in  securing  the  internal  union  of  England  under 
a  Danish  sovereign  and  in  preserving  her  connexion  with  the  North. 
But  at  the  death  of  Harthacnut  Cnut's  policy  had  become  impossible, 


II 


ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS 


129 


and  abandoning  the  Danish  cause  Godwine  drifted  with  the  tide  of 
popular  feeling  which  called  Eadward,  the  son  of  ^Ethelrcd  to  the 
throne. 

Eadward  had  lived  from  his  youth  in  exile  at  the  court  of 
Normandy.  A  halo  of  tenderness  spread  in  after-time  round  this 
last  King  of  the  old  English  stock  ;  legends  told  of  his  pious 
simplicity,  his  blitheness  and  gentleness  of  mood,  the  holiness  that 
gained  him  his  name  of  "  Confessor  "  and  enshrined  him  as  a  saint 


SEC.  II 

THE 

ENGLISH 
RESTORA- 
TION 

1042 

TO 

1066 

Eadward 
the  Con- 
fessor 
1042-1061 


KING    AND    MINISTER    DOING   JUSTICE    AT    A    GATE. 

Eleventh  Century. 
MS.  Cott.  Claud.  B.  iv.  ' 


in  his  abbey-church  at  Westminster.  Gleemen  sang  in  manlier 
tones  of  the  long  peace  and  glories  of  his  reign,  how  warriors  and 
wise  counsellors  stood  round  his  throne,  and  Welsh  and  Scot  and 
Briton  obeyed  him.  His  was  the  one  figure  that  stood  out  bright 
against  the  darkness  when  England  lay  trodden  under  foot  by 
Norman  conquerors  ;  and  so  dear  became  his  memory  that  liberty 
and  independence  itself  seemed  incarnate  in  his  name.  Instead  of 
freedom,  the  subjects  of  William  or  Henry  called  for  the "  good 
laws  of  Eadward  the  Confessor."  But  it  was  as  a  mere  shadow  of 
the  past  that  the  exile  really  returned  to  the  throne  of  Alfred  ; 
VOL.  1—9 


i3o  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  ii      there  was  something  shadow-like  in  the  thin   form,  the  delicate 
THE       complexion,  the  transparent  womanly  hands  that  contrasted  with 


e7es  and  golden  hair  of  his  race  ;  and   it  is  almost  as  a 
1042       shadow  that  he  glides  over  the   political   stage.     The    work    of 

TO 

1066  government  was  done  by  sterner  hands.  The  King's  weakness 
left  Godwinc  master  of  the  realm,  and  he  ruled  firmly  and 
wisely.  Abandoning  with  reluctance  all  interference  in  Scan- 
dinavian politics,  he  guarded  England  with  a  fleet  which  cruised 
along  the  coast.  Within,  though  the  earldoms  still  remained 
jealously  independent,  there  were  signs  that  a  real  political  unity 
was  being  slowly  brought  about.  It  was  rather  within  than  without 
that  Godwine's  work  had  to  be  done,  and  that  it  was  well  done  was 
proved  by  the  peace  of  the  land. 

Fall  of  Throughout  Eadward's  earlier  reign  England  lay  in  the  hands  of 
its  three  earls,  Siward  of  Northumbria,  Leofric  of  Mercia,  and 
Godvvine  of  Wessex,  and  it  seemed  as  if  the  old  tendency  to 
provincial  separation  was  to  triumph  with  the  death  of  Cnut.  What 
hindered  this  severance  was  the  ambition  of  Godwine.  His  whole 
mind  seemed  set  on  the  aggrandizement  of  his  family.  He  had 
given  his  daughter  to  the  King  as  wife.  His  own  earldom  embraced 
all  England  south  of  Thames.  His  son  Harold  was  Earl  of  East 
Anglia  ;  his  son  Swein  secured  an  earldom  in  the  west  ;  and  his 
nephew  Beorn  was  established  in  central  England.  But  the  first 
blow  to  Godwine's  power  came  from  the  lawlessness  of  Swein.  He 
seduced  the  abbess  of  Leominster,  sent  her  home  again  with  a  yet 
more  outrageous  demand  of  her  hand  in  marriage,  and  on  the  King's 
refusal  to  grant  it  fled  from  the  realm.  Godwine's  influence  secured 
his  pardon,  but  on  his  very  return  to  seek  it  Swein  murdered  his 
cousin  Beorn,  who  had  opposed  the  reconciliation.  He  again  fled 
to  Flanders,  and  a  storm  of  national  indignation  followed  him  over 
sea.  The  meeting  of  the  Wise  Men  branded  him  as  "  nithing,"  the 
'  '  utterly  worthless,"  yet  in  a  year  his  father  wrested  a  new  pardon 
from  the  King  and  restored  him  to  his  earldom.  The  scandalous 
inlawing  of  such  a  criminal  left  Godwine  alone  in  a  struggle  which 
soon  arose  with  Eadward  himself.  The  King  was  a  stranger  in  his 
realm,  and  his  sympathies  lay  naturally  with  the  home  and  friends 
of  his  youth  and  exile.  He  spoke  the  Norman  tongue.  He  used 
in  Norman  fashion  a  seal  for  his  charters.  He  set  Norman  favourites 


n  ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS  131 

in  the  highest  posts  of  Church  and  State.     Strangers  such  as  these,      SEC.  n 
though  hostile  to   the  minister,  were  powerless  against  Godwine's        THE 

ENGLISH 

influence  and  ability,  and  when  at  a  later  time  they  ventured  to     RESTORA- 
stand  alone  against  him  they  fell  without  a  blow.     But  the  general       1042 
ill-will  at  Swein's  inlawing  enabled  them  to  stir  Eadward  to  attack       1066 
the  Earl.     A  trivial  quarrel  brought  the  opportunity.     On  his  return 
from  a  visit  to  the  court  Eustace  Count  of  Boulogne,  the  husband 
of  the   King's  sister,  demanded  quarters  for  his  train  in  Dover. 
Strife  arose,  and  many  both  of  the  burghers  and  foreigners  were 
slain.  All  Godwine's  better  nature  withstood  Eadward  when  the  King 
angrily  bade  him  exact  vengeance  from  the  town  for  the  affront 
to  his  kinsman  ;  and   he  claimed    a   fair  trial  for  the  townsmen. 
Eadward    looked  on  his  refusal  as  an  outrage,  and  the    quarrel 
widened  into  open  strife.     Godwine  at  once  gathered  his  forces  and 
marched  upon  Gloucester,  demanding  the  expulsion  of  the  foreign 
favourites  ;  but  even  in  a  just  quarrel  the  country  was  cold  in  his 
support.     The  Earls  of  Mercia  and  Northumberland  united  their 
forces  to  those  of  Eadward  ;  and  in  a  gathering  of  the  Wise  Men 
at  London  Swein's  outlawry  was  renewed,  while  Godwine,  declining    Exile  of 
with  his  usual  prudence  a  useless  struggle,  withdrew   oversea   to       I05I  ' 
Flanders. 

But  the  wrath  of  the  nation  was  appeased  by  his  fall.  Great  as 
were  Godwine's  faults,  he  was  the  one  man  who  now  stood  between 
England  and  the  rule  of  the  strangers  who  flocked  to  the  Court ; 
and  a  year  had  hardly  passed  when  at  the  appearance  of  his  fleet 
in  the  Thames  Eadward  was  once  more  forced  to  yield.  The 
foreign  prelates  and  bishops  fled  oversea,  outlawed  by  the  same 
meeting  of  the  Wise  Men  which  restored  Godwine  to  his  home. 
He  returned  only  to  die,  and  the  direction  of  affairs  passed  1052 
quietly  to  his  son. 

Harold   came  to  power  unfettered  by  the  obstacles  which  had       Earl 

c     Harold 
beset  his  father,  and  for  twelve  years  he  was  the  actual  governor  ot    1053-1065 

the  realm.  The  courage,  the  ability,  the  genius  for  administration, 
the  ambition  and  subtlety  of  Godwine  were  found  again  in  his  son. 
In  the  internal  government  of  England  he  followed  out  his  father's 
policy  while  avoiding  its  excesses.  Peace  was  preserved,  justice 
administered,  and  the  realm  increased  in  wealth  and  prosperity.  Its 
gold  work  and  embroidery  became  famous  in  the  markets  of 


132 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  II 

THE 
ENGLISH 
RESTORA- 
TION 

1042 

TO 
1066 


Flanders  and  France.  Disturbances  from  without  were  crushed 
sternly  and  rapidly  ;  Harold's  military  talents  displayed  themselves 
in  a  campaign  against  Wales,  and  in  the  boldness  and  rapidity  with 


BEDS. 

Eleventh  Century. 
MS.  Cott.  Claud.  B.  rv. 


which,  arming  his  troops  with  weapons  adapted  for  mountain  con- 
flict, he  penetrated  to  the  heart  of  its  fastnesses  and  reduced  the 
country  to  complete  submission.  But  it  was  a  prosperity  poor  in 


CHARIOT. 

Eleventh  Century. 

MS.  Cott.  Claud.  B.  iv. 


the  nobler  elements  of  national  activity,  and  dead  to  the  more  vivid 
influences  of  spiritual  life.  Literature,  which  on  the  Continent  was 
kindling  into  a  new  activity,  died  down  in  England  into  a  few 


ii  ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS  133 

psalters   and  homilies.     The  few  minsters  raised  by  king  or  earls      SEC.  n 
contrasted  strangely  with  the  religious  enthusiasm  which  was  cover-     „  THE 

ENGLISH 

ing   Normandy  and  the  Rhineland  with  stately  buildings.     The     RK*™**-~ 
Church  sank  into  lethargy.    Stigand,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,       1042 
was  the  adherent  of  an  antipope,  and  the  highest  dignity  of  the       1066 
English  Church  was  kept  in  a  state  of  suspension.     No  important 
ecclesiastical  synod,  no  Church  reform,  broke  the  slumbers  of  its 
clergy.      Abroad  Europe  was  waking  to  a  new  revival  of  literature, 
of  art,  of  religion,  but  England  was  all  but  severed  from  the  Con- 
tinent.    Like    Godwine,    Harold's  energy  seemed  to  devote  itself 
wholly  to  self-aggrandizement.     With  the  gift  of  the  Northumbrian 
earldom  on  Siward's  death  to  Harold's  brother  Tostig,' all  England, 
save  a  small  part  of  the  older  Mercia,  lay  in  the  hands  of  the  house 
of  Godwine.      As   the  childless  Eadward  drew  to  the  grave  his 
minister  drew  closer  and  closer  to  the  throne.     One  obstacle  after 
another  was  swept  from  his  path.     A  revolt  of  the  Northumbrians 
drove  Tostig,  his  most  dangerous  opponent,  to  Flanders,  and  the 
Earl  was  able  to  win    over  the  Mercian  house  of  Leofric  to  his 
cause  by  owning  Morkere,  the  brother  of  the  Mercian  Earl  Ead- 
wine,  as  Tostig's  successor.      His  aim  was  in  fact  attained  without  a 
struggle,  and  the  nobles  and  bishops  who  were  gathered  round  the  Death  of 
death-bed  of  the  Confessor  passed  quietly  at  once  from  it  to  the   jan.  ,066 
election  and  coronation  of  Harold, 


Section  III. — Normandy  and  the  Normans,  912 — 1066 

[Authorities. — Dudo  of  S.  Quentin,  a  verbose  and  confused  writer,  has  pre- 
served the  earliest  Norman  traditions.  His  work  is  abridged  and  continued  by 
William  of  Jumieges,  a  contemporary  of  the  Conqueror,  whose  work  forms  the 
base  of  the  "  Roman  de  Rou,"  composed  by  Wace  in  the  time  of  Henry  the 
Second.  The  religious  movement  is  best  told  by  Ordericus  Vitalis,  a  Norman 
writer  of  the  twelfth  century,  gossiping  and  confused,  but  full  of  valuable  infor- 
mation. For  Lanfranc  see  "  Lanfranci  Opera,  ed.  Giles,"  and  the  life  in  Hook's 
"Archbishops  of  Canterbury."  For  Anselm  see  the  admirable  biography  by 
Dean  Church.  The  general  history  of  Normandy  is  told  diffusely  but 
picturesquely  by  Sir  F.  Palgrave,  "  Normandy  and  England,"  more  accurately 
and  succinctly  by  Mr.  Freeman,  "  History  of  Norman  Conquest,"  vols.  i.  and  ii.] 

The  quiet  of  Harold's  accession  was  at  once  broken  by  news       Nor- 
of  danger   from   a   land   which,   strange   as   it  seemed  then,  was 


134  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 


SEC.  in     soon  to  become  almost  a  part  of  England  itself.     A  walk  through 
NORMANDY    Normandy  teaches  one  more  of  the  age  of  our  history  which  we  are 

AND   THE 

NORMANS     about  to  traverse  than  all  the  books  in  the  world.     The  story  of 
912 
TO         the  Conquest  stands  written  in  the  stately  vault  of  the  minster  at 

Caen  which  still  covers  the  tomb  of  the  Conqueror.      The  name  of 
each  hamlet  by  the  roadside  has  its  memories  for  English  ears  ;  a 


ABBEY    CHURCH    OF    S.    STEPHEN    AT    CAEN. 

fragment  of  castle  wall  marks  the  home  of  the  Bruce,  a  tiny  little 
village  preserves  the  name  of  the  Percy.  The  very  look  of  the 
country  and  its  people  seem  familiar  to  us  ;  the  peasant  in  his  cap 
and  blouse  recalls  the  build  and  features  of  the  small  English 
farmer  ;  the  fields  about  Caen,  with  their  dense  hedgerows,  their 
elms,  their  apple-orchards,  are  the  very  picture  of  an  English 
country-side.  On  the  windy  heights  around  rise  the  square  grey 


II 


ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS 


keeps  which  Normandy  handed  on  to  the  cliffs  of  Richmond  or  the 
banks  of  Thames,  while  huge  cathedrals  lift  themselves  over  the  red- 
tiled  roofs  of  little  market  towns,  the  models  of  the  stately  fabrics 
which  superseded  the  lowlier  churches  of  yElfrcd  or  Dunstan. 

Hrolf  the  Ganger,  or  Walker,  a  Norwegian  and  a  pirate  leader 
like  Guthrum  or  Hasting,  had  wrested  the  land  on  either  side  the 
mouth  of  Seine  from  the  French  king,  Charles  the  Simple,  at  the 
moment  when  Alfred's  children  were  beginning  their  conquest  of 
the  English  Danelaw.  The  treaty  in  which  France  purchased 
peace  by  this  cession  of  the  coast  was  a  close  imitation  of  the 
peace  of  Wedmore.  Hrolf,  like  Guthrum,  was  baptized,  received 
the  king's  daughter  in  marriage,  and  became  his  vassal  for  the 
territory  which  now  took  the  name  of  "  the  Northman's  land  "  or 
Normandy.  But  vassalage  and  the  new  faith  sat  alike  lightly  on 
thz  pirate.  No  such  ties  of  blood  and  speech  tended  to  unite  the 
northman  with  the  French  among  whom  he  settled  along  the  Seine 
as  united  him  to  the  Englishmen  among  whom  he  settled  along 
the  H umber.  William  Longsword,  the  son  of  Hrolf,  though 
wavering  towards  France  and  Christianity,  remained  a  northman 
in  heart ;  he  called  in  a  Danish  colony  to  occupy  his  conquest  of 
the  Cotentin,  the  peninsula  which  runs  out  from  St.  Michael's 
Mount  to  the  cliffs  of  Cherbourg,  and  reared  his  boy  among  the 
northmen  of  Bayeux,  where  the  Danish  tongue  and  fashions  most 
stubbornly  held  their  own.  A  heathen  reaction  followed  his  death, 
and  the  bulk  of  the  Normans,  with  the  child  Duke  Richard,  fell 
away  for  the  time  from  Christianity,  while  new  pirate-fleets  came 
swarming  up  the  Seine.  To  the  close  of  the  century  the  whole 
people  are  still  "  Pirates  "  to  the  French  around  them,  their  land 
the  "  Pirates'  land,"  their  Duke  the  "  Pirates'  Duke." 

Yet  in  the  end  the  same  forces  which  merged  the  Dane  in  the 
Englishman  told  even  more  powerfully  on  the  Dane  in  France. 
No  race  has  ever  shown  a  greater  power  of  absorbing  all  the  nobler 
characteristics  of  the  peoples  with  whom  they  came  in  contact,  or 
of  infusing  their  own  energy  into  them.  During  the  long  reign  of 
Duke  Richard  the  Fearless,  the  son  of  William  Longsword, 
heathen  Norman  pirates  became  French  Christians,  and  feudal  at 
heart.  The  old  Norse  language  lived  only  at  Bayeux,  and  in  a 
few  local  names.  As  the  old  northern  freedom  died  silently  away, 


SEC.  Ill 
NORMANDY 

AND   THE 

NORMANS 
912 

TO 
1066 

The 

Norman 
Settle- 
ment 


Peace  of 

Clair-sur- 

Epte 

912 


Civiliza- 
tion of 
Nor- 
mandy 

945-996 


136  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP, 

SEC.  in      the   descendants   of  the  pirates   became   feudal    nobles,   and   the 
NORMANDY   "  Pirates'  land  "  sank  into  the  most  loyal  of  the  fiefs  of  France. 

AND  THE 


NORMANS    ^he  change  of  manners  was  accompanied  by  a  change  of  faith,  a 

TO        change   which   bound   the   land   where    heathendom   had    fought 

stubbornly  for  life  to  the  cause  of  Christianity  and  the    Church. 

The  Dukes  were  the  first  to  be  touched  by  the  new  faith,  but  as 

the  religious  movement  spread  to  the  people  it  was  welcomed  with 

an   almost  passionate  fanaticism.     Every  road  was  crowded  with 

Herlouin    pilgrims.     Monasteries    rose   in    every   forest   glade.     Herlouin,  a 

knight  of  Brionne,  sought  shelter  from  the  world  in  a  little  valley 

edged  in  with  woods  of  ash  and  elm,  through  which  a  beck    or 

Bee       rivulet  (to  which  his  house  owed  its  after-name)  runs  down  to  the 

Risle.     He  was  one  day  busy  building  an  oven  with  his  own  hands 

when  a  stranger  greeted  him  with  "  God  save  you  !  "    "  Are  you  a 

Lombard  ?  "  asked  the  knight-abbot,  struck  with  the  foreign  look 

of  the  man.     "  I  am,"  he  replied  :  and  praying  to  be  made  a  monk, 

the   stranger   fell   down   at   the   mouth   of  the   oven   and    kissed 

Herlouin's  feet.     The  Lombard  was  Lanfranc  of  Pavia,  a  scholar 

especially  skilled   in  the   traditions  of  the  Roman  law,  who  had 

wandered  across  the  Alps  to  found  a  school  at  Avranches,  and  was 

now  drawn  to  a  religious  life  by  the  fame  of  Herlouin's  sanctity. 

The  religious  impulse  was  a  real  Dne,  but  Lanfranc  was  destined  to 

be  known  rather  as  a  great  administrator  and  statesman  than  as  a 

Lanfranc   saint.     His  teaching  raised  Bee  in  a  few  years  into  the  most  famous 

1045  1066  school  of  Christendom:    it  was  in  fact  the  first  wave  of  the  in- 

tellectual movement  which  was  spreading  from  Italy  to  the  ruder 

countries   of  the  West.     The  whole   mental  activity  of  the  time 

seemed  concentrated  in  the  group  of  scholars  who  gathered  round 

him  ;  the  fabric  of  the  canon  law  and  of  mediaeval  scholasticism, 

with   the   philosophical   scepticism    which    first   awoke   under   its 

influence,  all  trace  their  origin  to  Bee. 

Anselm  The  most  famous  of  these  scholars  was  Anselm  of  Aosta,  an 

Italian  like  Lanfranc  himself,  and  who  was  soon  to  succeed  him  as 
Prior  and  teacher  at  Bee.  Friends  as  they  were,  no  two  men  could 
be  more  strangely  unlike.  Anselm  had  grown  to  manhood  in  the 
quiet  solitude  of  his  mountain-valley,  a  tender-hearted  poet- 
dreamer,  with  a  soul  pure  as  the  Alpine  snows  above  him,  and  an 
intelligence  keen  and  clear  as  the  mountain  air.  The  whole  temper 


ii  ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS  137 

of  the  man  was  painted  in  a  dream  of  his  youth.     It  seemed  to      SEC.  in 
him  as  though  heaven  lay,  a  stately  palace,  amid  the  gleaming  hill-    NORMANDY 

AND  THE 

peaks,  while    the  women  reaping  in  the  corn-fields  of  the  valley     NORMANS 

QI2 

became  harvest-maidens  of  its  heavenly  King.  They  reaped  idly,  TO 
and  Anselm,  grieved  at  their  sloth,  hastily  climbed  the  mountain- 
side to  accuse  them  to  their  lord.  As  he  reached  the  palace  the 
King's  voice  called  him  to  his  feet,  and  he  poured  forth  his  tale ; 
then  at  the  royal  bidding  bread  of  an  unearthly  whiteness  was  set 
before  him,  and  he  ate  and  was  refreshed.  The  dream  passed  with 
the  morning  ;  but  the  sense  of  heaven's  nearness  to  earth,  the  fervid 
loyalty  to  the  service  of  his  Lord,  the  tender  restfulness  and  peace 
in  the  Divine  presence  which  it  reflected  became  the  life  of 
Anselm.  Wandering  like  other  Italian  scholars  to  Normandy,  he  Io6o 
became  a  monk  under  Lanfranc,  and  on  his  teacher's  removal  to 
higher  duties  succeeded  him  in  the  direction  of  the  Abbey  of  Bee. 
No  teacher  has  ever  thrown  a  greater  spirit  of  love  into  his  toil. 
"  Force  your  scholars  to  improve  !  "  he  burst  out  to  another  teacher 
who  relied  on  blows  and  compulsion.  "  Did  you  ever  see  a 
craftsman  fashion  a  fair  image  out  of  a  golden  plate  by  blows 
alone  ?  Does  he  not  now  gently  press  it  and  strike  it  with  his 
tools,  now  with  wise  art  yet  more  gently  raise  and  shape  it  ? 
What  do  your  scholars  turn  into  under  this  ceaseless  beating  ? " 
"  They  turn  only  brutal,"  was  the  reply.  "  You  have  bad  luck," 
was  the  keen  answer,  "  in  a  training  that  only  turns  men  into 
beasts."  The  worst  natures  softened  before  this  tenderness  and 
patience.  Even  the  Conqueror,  so  harsh  and  terrible  to  others, 
became  another  man,  gracious  and  easy  of  speech,  with  Anselm. 

But  amidst  his  absorbing  cares  as  a  teacher,  the  Prior  of  Bee 
found  time  for  philosophical  speculations,  to  which  we  owe  the 
great  scientific  inquiries  which  built  up  the  theology  of  the  middle 
ages.  His  famous  works  were  the  first  attempts  of  any  Christian 
thinker  to  elicit  the  idea  of  God  from  the  very  nature  of  the  human 
reason.  His  passion  for  abstruse  thought  robbed  him  of  food  and 
sleep.  Sometimes  he  could  hardly  pray.  Often  the  night  was  a 
long  watch  till  he  could  seize  his  conception  and  write  it  on  the 
wax  tablets  which  lay  beside  him.  But  not  even  a  fever  of  intense 
thought  such  as  this  could  draw  Anselm's  heart  from  its  passionate 
tenderness  and  love.  Sick  monks  in  the  infirmary  could  relish  no 


138  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  iv      drink  save  the  juice  which  his  hand  had  squeezed  for  them  from 
THE        the  ^rape-bunch.     In  the  later  days  of  his  archbishoprick  a  hare 

CONQUEROR 

1042.  chased  by  the  hounds  took  refuge  under  his  horse,  and  his  voice 
1066  grew  loud  as  he  forbade  a  huntsman  to  stir  in  the  chase  while  the 
creature  darted  off  again  to  the  woods.  Even  the  greed  cf  lands 
for  the  Church  to  which  so  many  religious  men  yielded  found  its 
characteristic  rebuke,  as  the  battling  lawyers  saw  Anselm  quietly 
close  his  eyes  in  court  and  go  peacefully  to  sleep. 


Section  IV.  —  The  Conqueror,  1042  —  1066 

[Authorities.  —  Primarily  the  "  Gesta  Willelmi  "  of  his  chaplain,  William  of 
Poitiers,  a  violent  partizan  of  the  Duke.  William  of  Jumieges  is  here  a  con- 
temporary, and  of  great  value.  Orderic  and  Wace,  with  the  other  riming 
chronicle  of  Benoit  de  Sainte-More,  come  in  the  second  place.  For  the  in- 
vasion and  Senlac  we  have,  in  addition,  the  contemporary  "  Carmen  de  Bello 
Hastingensi,"  by  Guy,  Bishop  of  Amiens,  and  the  invaluable  pictures  of  the 
Bayeux  Tapestry.  The  English  accounts  are  most  meagre.  The  invasion  and 
battle  of  Senlac  are  the  subject  of  Mr.  Freeman's  third  volume  ("  History  of 
Norman  Conquest").] 


The  Con-         IT  was  n°t  this  new  fervour  of  faith  only  which  drove  Norman 

the^Nor*1  P^grims  m  fl°cks  to  the  shrines  of  Italy  and  the  Holy  Land.  The 
mans  old  northern  spirit  of  adventure  turned  the  pilgrims  into  Crusaders, 
and  the  flower  of  Norman  knighthood,  impatient  of  the  stern  rule 
of  their  Dukes,  followed  Roger  de  Toesny  against  the  Moslem  of 
Spain,  or  enlisted  under  the  banner  of  the  Greeks  in  their  war 
with  the  Arabs  who  had  conquered  Sicily.  The  Normans  became 
conquerors  under  Robert  Guiscard,  a  knight  who  had  left  his  home 
in  the  Cotentin  with  a  single  follower,  but  whose  valour  and 
wisdom  soon  placed  him  at  the  head  of  his  fellow-soldiers  in  Italy. 
Attacking  the  Greeks,  whom  they  had  hitherto  served,  the  Norman 

1054-1080  knights  wrested  Apulia  from  them  in  an  overthrow  at  Cannae, 
Guiscard  himself  led  them  to  the  conquest  of  Calabria  and  the 

1060-1090  great  trading  cities  of  the  coast,  while  thirty  years  of  warfare  gave 
Sicily  to  the  followers  of  his  brother  Roger.  The  two  conquests 
were  united  under  a  line  of  princes  to  whose  munificence  art  owes 
the  splendour  of  Palermo  and  Monreale,  and  literature  the  first 


II 


ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS 


139 


outburst  of  Italian  song.     Normandy,  still  seething  with  vigorous  SEC.  rv 

life,  was  stirred   to  greed  and   enterprise  by  this  plunder  of  the  ,  THE 

J  CONQUEROH 

South,  and  the  rumour  of  Guiscard's  exploits  roused   into  more  1042 

ardent  life  the  daring  ambition  of  its  Duke.  1066 

William  the  Great,  as  men  of  his  own  day  styled  him,  William  William 

the  Conqueror,  as  by  one  event  he  stamped  himself  on  our  history,  °mandy" 
was  now  Duke  of  Normandy.     The  full  grandeur  of  his  indomitable 
will,  his  large  and  patient  statesmanship,  the  loftiness  of  aim  which 
lifts  him  out  of  the  petty  incidents  of  his  age,  were  as  yet  only 


CASTLE    OF    ARQUES. 
Built  by  a  rebel  baron  in  William's  boyhood. 


partly  disclosed.  But  there  never  was  a  moment  from  his  boyhood 
when  he  was  not  among  the  greatest  of  men.  His  life  was  one 
long  mastering  of  difficulty  after  difficulty.  The  shame  of  his  birth 
remained  in  his  name  of  "  the  Bastard."  His  father,  Duke  Robert, 
had  seen  Arlotta,  the  daughter  of  a  tanner  of  the  town,  washing  her 
linen  in  the  little  brook  by  Falaise,  and  loving  her  had  made  her 
the  mother  of  his  boy.  Robert's  departure  on  a  pilgrimage  from 
which  he  never  returned  left  William  a  child-ruler  among  the  most 
turbulent  baronage  in  Christendom,  and  treason  and  anarchy  sur- 


1027 


I4o  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  iv      rounded  him  as  he  grew  to  manhood.     Disorder  broke  at  last  into 
THE       open  revolt.     Surprised    in    his  hunting-seat   at   Valognes  by  the 

CONQUEROR 

1042  rising  of  the  Bessin  and  Cotentin  districts,  in  which  the  pirate 
1066  temper  and  lawlessness  lingered  longest,  William  had  only  time  to 
dash  through  the  fords  of  Vire  with  the  rebels  on  his  track.  A 
fierce  combat  of  horse  on  the  slopes  of  Val-es-dunes,  to  the  south- 
eastward of  Caen,  left  him  master  of  the  duchy,  and  the  old 
1047  Scandinavian  Normandy  yielded  for  ever  to  the  new  civilization 
which  streamed  in  with  French  alliances  and  the  French  tongue. 
William  was  himself  a  type  of  the  transition.  In  the  young  duke's 
character  the  old  world  mingled  strangely  with  the  new,  the  pirate 
jostled  roughly  with  the  statesman.  William  was  the  most  terrible, 
as  he  was  the  last  outcome  of  the  northern  race.  The  very  spirit 
of  the  "  sea-wolves  "  who  had  so  long  "  lived  on  the  pillage  of  the 
world"  seemed  embodied  in  his  gigantic  form,  his  enormous 
strength,  his  savage  countenance,  his  desperate  bravery,  the  fury 
of  his  wrath,  the  ruthlessness  of  his  revenge.  "  No  knight  under 
heaven,"  his  enemies  confessed,  "  was  William's  peer."  Boy  as  he 
was,  horse  and  man  went  down  before  his  lance  at  Val-es-dunes. 
All  the  fierce  gaiety  of  his  nature  broke  out  in  the  chivalrous 
adventures  of  his  youth,  in  his  rout  of  fifteen  Angevins  with  but 
five  soldiers  at  his  back,  in  his  defiant  ride  over  the  ground  which 
Geoffry  Martel  claimed  from  him,  a  ride  with  hawk  on  fist  as 
though  war  and  the  chase  were  one.  No  man  could  bend  his  bow. 
His  mace  crashed  its  way  through  a  ring  of  English  warriors  to  the 
foot  of  the  Standard.  He  rose  to  his  greatest  heights  in  moments 
when  other  men  despaired.  His  voice  rang  out  like  a  trumpet  to 
rally  his  soldiers  as  they  fled  before  the  English  charge  at  Senlac. 
In  his  winter  march  on  Chester  he  strode  afoot  at  the  head  of  his 
fainting  troops,  and  helped  with  his  own  hands  to  clear  a  road 
through  the  snowdrifts.  With  the  northman's  daring  broke  out 
the  northman's  pitilessness.  When  the  townsmen  of  Alencon 
hung  raw  hides  along  their  walls  in  scorn  of  the  baseness  of  his 
birth,  with  cries  of  "  Work  for  the  Tanner  !  "  William  tore  out  his 
prisoners'  eyes,  cut  off  their  hands  and  feet,  and  flung  them  into 
the  town.  At  the  close  of  his  greatest  victory  he  refused  Harold's 
body  a  grave.  Hundreds  of  Hampshire  men  were  driven  from 
their  homes  to  make  him  a  hunting-ground,  and  his  harrying  of 


n  ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS  141 

Northumbria  left  the  north  of  England  a  desolate  waste.     There  is      SEcAv 
a  grim,  ruthless  ring  about  his  very  jests.     In  his  old  age  Philip  of        THE 

CONQUEROR 

France  mocked  at  the  Conqueror's  unwieldy  bulk  and  at  the  sickncrs  1042 
which  confined  him  to  his  bed  at  Rouen.  "  King  William  has  as  1066 
long  a  lying-in,"  laughed  his  enemy,  "as  a  woman  behind  her 
curtains  !"  "  When  I  get  up,"  swore  William,  "  I  will  go  to  mass  in 
Philip's  land,  and  bring  a  rich  offering  for  my  churching.  I  will 
offer  a  thousand  candles  for  my  fee.  Flaming  brands  shall  they  be, 
and  steel  shall  glitter  over  the  fire  they  make."  At  harvest-tide  town 
and  hamlet  flaring  into  ashes  along  the  French  border  fulfilled  the 
Conqueror's  vow.  There  is  the  same  savage  temper  in  the  loneliness 
of  his  life.  He  recked  little  of  men's  love  or  hate.  His  grim  look, 
his  pride,  his  silence,  his  wild  outbursts  of  passion,  spread  terror 
through  his  court.  "  So  stark  and  fierce  was  he,"  says  the  English 
Chronicler,  "  that  none  dared  resist  his  will."  His  graciousness  to 
Anselm  only  brought  out  into  stronger  relief  the  general  harshness 
of  his  tone.  His  very  wrath  was  solitary.  "To  no  man  spake  he, 
and  no  man  dared  speak  to  him,"  when  the  news  reached  him  of 
Harold's  accession  to  the  throne.  It  was  only  when  he  passed  from 
the  palace  to  the  loneliness  of  the  woods  that  the  King's  temper 
unbent.  "  He  loved  the  wild  deer  as  though  he  had  been  their 
father.  Whosoever  should  slay  hart  or  hind  man  should  blind 
him."  Death  itself  took  its  colour  from  the  savage  solitude  of  his 
life.  Priests  and  nobles  fled  as  the  last  breath  left  him,  and  the 
Conqueror's  body  lay  naked  and  lonely  on  the  floor. 

It  was  the  genius  of  William  which  lifted  him  out  of  this  mere    William 
northman  into  a  great  general  and  a  great  statesman.    The  growth     France 
of  the  Norman  power  was  jealously  watched  by  Geoffry  Martel, 
the  Count  of  Anjou,  and  his  influence  succeeded   in  converting 
France  from  friend  to  foe.     The  danger  changed  William  at  once 
from    the   chivalrous   knight-errant  of  Val-es-dunes  into  a  wary 
strategist.      As   the    French    army   crossed   the   border   he   hung 
cautiously  on  its  flanks,  till  a  division  which  had  encamped  in  the 
little  town  of  Mortemer  had  been  surprised  and  cut  to  pieces  by       1054 
his  soldiers.     A  second  division  was  still  held  at  bay  by  the  duke 
himself,  when  Ralph  de  Toesny,  climbing  up  into  a  tree,  shouted 
to  them  the  news  of  their  comrades'  fall.     "  Up,  up,  Frenchmen  ! 
you  sleep  too  long  :  go  bury  your  friends  that  lie  slain  at  Mortemer." 


i42  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  iv     A  second  and  more  formidable  invasion  four  years  later  was  met 
THK        with  the  same  cautious  strategy.     William  hung  on  the  French- 

CONyUliROR  &J 

1042       men's  flank,  looking  coolly  on  while  town  and  abbey  were  plun- 

TO 

1066  dered,  the  Bessin  ravaged,  Caen  sacked,  and  the  invaders  prepared 
to  cross  the  Dive  at  Varaville  and  carry  fire  and  sword  into  the 
rich  land  of  Lisieux.  But  only  half  the  army  was  over  the  river 
when  the  Duke  fell  suddenly  upon  its  rear.  The  fight  raged  till 
the  rising  of  the  tide  cut  the  French  forces,  as  William  had  fore- 
seen, hopelessly  in  two.  Huddled  together  on  a  narrow  causeway, 
swept  by  the  Norman  arrows,  knights,  footmen,  and  baggage  train 
were  involved  in  the  same  ruin.  Not  a  man  escaped,  and  the 
French  king,  who  had  been  forced  to  look  on  helplessly  from  the 
opposite  bank,  fled  home  to  die.  The  death  of  Geoffry  Martel  left 
William  without  a  rival  among  the  princes  of  France.  Maine,  the 

1060  border  land  between  Norman  and  Angevin,  and  which  had  for 
the  last  ten  years  been  held  by  Anjou,  submitted  without  a  struggle 
to  his  rule.  Britanny,  which  had  joined  the  league  of  his  foes,  was 
reduced  to  submission  by  a  single  march. 

William          All  this  activity  abroad  was  far  from  distracting  the  Duke's 
and  Nor- 
mandy    attention  from  Normandy  itself.    'It  was  hard  to  secure  peace  and 

order  in  a  land  filled  with  turbulent  robber-lords.  "  The  Normans 
must  be  trodden  down  and  kept  under  foot,"  said  one  of  their 
poets,  "  for  he  only  who  bridles  them  may  use  them  at  his  need." 
William  "  could  never  love  a  robber."  His  stern  protection  of 
trader  and  peasant  roused  the  baronage  through  his  first  ten  years 
to  incessant  revolt.  His  very  kinsfolk  headed  the  discontent,  and 
summoned  the  French  king  to  their  aid.  But  the  victories  of 
Mortemer  and  Varaville  left  the  rebels  at  his  mercy.  Some  rotted 
in  his  dungeons,  some  were,  driven  into  exile,  and  joined  the  con- 
querors of  Apulia  and  Sicily.  The  land  settled  down  into  peace 
and  order,  and  William  turned  to  the  reform  of  the  Church. 
Malger,  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen,  a  mere  hunting  and  feasting 
prelate,  was  summarily  deposed,  and  his  place  filled  by  Maurilius, 
a  French  ecclesiastic  of  piety  and  learning.  Frequent  councils 
under  the  Duke's  guidance  amended  the  morals  of  the  clergy. 
The  school  of  Bee,  as  we  have  seen,  had  become  a  centre  of 
education  ;  ,and  William,  with  the  keen  insight  into  men  which 
formed  so  marked  a  feature  in  his  genius,  selected  its  prior  as 


II 


ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS 


his  chief  adviser.     In  a  strife  with  the  Papacy  which  the  Duke      SEC.  iv 
had  provoked  by  his  marriage  with  Matilda  of  Flanders,  Lanfranc     ,  TH|* 

CONQUEROR 

took  the  side  of  Rome,  and  his  opposition  had  been  punished  by       1042 

TO 
1066 


ABBEY     CHURCH     OF    JUMlfcGES. 
Nave  and  tower  built  1040 — 1058. 


a  sentence  of  banishment.  The  Prior  set  out  on  a  lame  horse 
the  only  one  his  house  could  afford,  and  was  overtaken  by  the 
Duke,  impatient  that  he  should  quit  Normandy.  "  Give  me  a 
better  horse  and  I  shall  go  the  quicker,"  replied  the  imperturbable 


144  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE          CHAP,  n 

SEC.  iv      Lombard,  and  the  Duke's  wrath  passed  into  laughter  and  good- 
THE       will.    From  that  hour  Lanfranc  became  his  minister  and  counsellor, 

CONQUEROR 

1042       whether   for   affairs  in  the  duchy   itself  or  for  the  more   daring 

1066       schemes  of  ambition  which  were  opened  up  to  him  by  the  position 

of  England. 

England  For  half  a  century  the  two  countries  had  been  drawing  nearer 
Normans  together.  At  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Richard  the  Fearless  the 
Danish  descents  upon  the  English  coast  had  found  support  in  Nor- 
mandy, and  their  fleet  had  wintered  in  her  ports.  It  was  to  revenge 
these  attacks  that  ^Ethelred  had  despatched  a  fleet  across  the 
Channel  to  ravage  the  Cotentin,  but  the  fleet  was  repulsed,  and  the 
strife  appeased  by  ^Ethelred's  marriage  with  Emma,  a  sister  of 
Richard  the  Good.  yEthelred  with  his  children  found  shelter  in 
Normandy  from  the  Danish  kings,  and,  if  Norman  accounts  are  to 
be  trusted,  contrary  winds  alone  prevented  a  Norman  fleet  from 
undertaking  their  restoration.  The  peaceful  recall  of  Eadward  to 
the  throne  seemed  to  open  England  to  Norman  ambition,  and 
Godwine  was  no  sooner  banished  than  Duke  William  appeared  at 

1051  the  English  court,  and  received,  as  he  afterwards  asserted,  a  promise 
of  succession  to  its  throne  from  the  King.  Such  a  promise,  uncon- 
firmed by  the  national  assembly  of  the  Wise  Men,  was  utterly 
valueless,  and  for  the  moment  Godwine's  recall  put  an  end  to 
William's  hopes.  They  are  said  to  have  been  revived  by  a  storm 
which  threw  Harold,  while  cruising  in  the  Channel,  on  the  French 
coast,  and  William  forced  him  to  swear  on  the  relics  of  saints  to 
support  the  Duke's  claim  as  the  price  of  his  own  return  to  England  : 
but  the  news  of  the  King's  death  was  at  once  followed  by  that  of 

1066  Harold's  accession,  and  after  a  burst  of  furious  passion  the  Duke 
prepared  to  enforce  his  claim  by  arms.  William  did  not  claim  the 
Crown.  He  claimed  simply  the  right  which  he  afterwards  used 
when  his  sword  had  won  it,  of  presenting  himself  for  election  by 
the  nation,  and  he  believed  himself  entitled  so  to  present  himself 
by  the  direct  commendation  of  the  Confessor.  The  actual  election 
of  Harold  which  stood  in  his  way,  hurried  as  it  was,  he  did  not 
recognize  as  valid.  But  with  this  constitutional  claim  was  inextric- 
ably mingled  his  resentment  at  the  private  wrong  which  Harold 
had  done  him,  and  a  resolve  to  exact  vengeance  on  the  man  whom 
he  regarded  as  untrue  to  his  oath. 


LODVX  AN6ORVM  ETSV1 


HAROLD   TAKING   LEAVE   OF    EADWARD. 


SETTING   OUT    ON    HIS  JOURNEY. 


HAROLD   SAILING    FROM    BOSHAM    TO    PONTHIEU. 


1C  DEDERV N  T«  hA  KOLDO 


HAROLD    RECEIVING   THE  CROWN 
BAYEUX     TAPESTRY. 


VOL.    I — 10 


146  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE          CHAP,  n 

SEC.  iv  The    difficulties    in    the    way    of    his    enterprise    were    indeed 

THE        enormous.     He  could  reckon  on  no  support  within  England  itself. 

CONQUEROR 

1042       At  home  he  had  to  extort  the  consent  of  his  own  reluctant  baron- 

TO 

1066  age  ;  to  gather  a  motley  host  from  every  quarter  of  France,  and  to 
The  eve  keep  it  together  for  months ;  to  create  a  fleet,  to  cut  down  the  very 
struggle  trees,  to  build,  to  launch,  to  man  the  vessels  ;  and  to  find  time 
amidst  all  this  for  the  common  business  of  government,  for  negotia- 
tions with  Denmark  and  the  Empire,  with  France,  Britanny,  and 
Anjou,  with  Flanders  and  with  Rome.  His  rival's  difficulties  were 
hardly  less  than  his  own.  Harold  was  threatened  with  invasion 
not  only  by  William  but  by  his  brother  Tostig,  who  had  taken 
refuge  in  Norway  and  secured  the  aid  of  its  king,  Harald  Hardrada. 
The  fleet  and  army  he  had  gathered  lay  watching  for  months  along 
the  coast.  His  one  standing  force  was  his  body  of  hus-carls, 
but  their  numbers  only  enabled  them  to  act  as  the  nucleus  of  an 
army.  On  the  other  hand  the  Land-fyrd,  or  general  levy  of 
fighting-men,  was  a  body  easy  to  raise  for  any  single  encounter, 
but  hard  to  keep  together.  To  assemble  such  a  force  was  to  bring 
labour  to  a  standstill.  The  men  gathered  under  the  King's 
standard  were  the  farmers  and  ploughmen  of  their  fields.  The 
ships  were  the  fishing- vessels  of  the  coast.  In  September  the  task 
of  holding  them  together  became  impossible,  but  their  dispersion 
had  hardly  taken  place  when  the  two  clouds  which  had  so  long 
been  gathering  burst  at  once  upon  the  realm.  A  change  of  wind 
released  the  landlocked  armament  of  William  ;  but  before  changing, 
the  wind  which  prisoned  the  Duke  had  flung  the  host  of  Harald 
1066  Hardrada  on  the  coast  of  Yorkshire.  The  King  hastened  with  his 
household  troops  to  the  north,  and  repulsed  the  invaders  in  a 
decisive  overthrow  at  Stamford  Bridge,  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
York  ;  but  ere  he  could  hurry  back  to  London  the  Norman  host 
had  crossed  the  sea,  and  William,  who  had  anchored  on  the  28th 
off  Pevensey,  was  ravaging  the  coast  to  bring  his  rival  to  an  en- 
gagement. His  merciless  ravages  succeeded,  as  they  were  intended, 
in  drawing  Harold  from  London  to  the  south  ;  but  the  King  wisely 
Sept.  28  refused  to  attack  with  the  forces  he  had  hastily  summoned  to  his 
banner.  If  he  was  forced  to  give  battle,  he  resolved  to  give  it  on 
ground  he  had  himself  chosen,  and  advancing  near  enough  to  the 
coast  to  check  William's  ravages,  he  entrenched  himself  on  a  hill 


WILLIAM    SAILING   TO   ENGLAND. 


DIVM:  ET  bIC'EPISCopVS:ClBY£T 
POTV 


BISHOP   ODO   OF    BAYEUX   SAYING   GRACE   AT 
BANQUET   AFTER    LANDING. 


WILLIAM    HOLDING   COUNCIL   WITH    HIS 
BROTHERS.    ODO   AND    ROBERT. 


FORTIFICATION    OF    WILLIAM'S   CAMP   AT    HASTINGS 


MESSENGER  BRINGS  TIDINGS  TO  WILLIAM 
OF  HAROLD'S  MOVEMENTS. 


UAYKUX     TAI'KSTKY. 


148  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  iv      known  afterwards  as  that  of  Senlac,  a  low  spur  of    the  Sussex 
THE        Downs  near  Hastings.     His  position  covered  London,  and  drove 

CONQUEROR 

1042       William    to   concentrate   his    forces.     With   a  host   subsisting  by 
1066       pillage,  to  concentrate  is  to  starve  ;  and  no  alternative  was  left  to 
William  but  a  decisive  victory  or  ruin. 

The  Along  the  higher  ground  that  leads  from  Hastings  the  Duke  led 

Battle   of  .... 

Senlac     his  men  in  the  dim  dawn  ot  an  October  morning  to  the  mound  of 

Oct.  14  Telham.  It  was  from  this  point  that  the  Normans  saw  the  host  of 
the  English  gathered  thickly  behind  a  rough  trench  and  a  stockade 
on  the  height  of  Senlac.  Marshy  ground  covered  their  right  ;  on 
the  left,  the  most  exposed  part  of  the  position,  the  hus-carls  or 
body-guard  of  Harold,  men  in  full  armour  and  wielding  huge  axes, 
were  grouped  round  the  Golden  Dragon  of  W'essex  and  the 
Standard  of  the  King.  The  rest  of  the  ground  was  covered  by 
thick  masses  of  half-armed  rustics  who  had  flocked  at  Harold's 
summons  to  the  fight  with  the  stranger.  It  was  against  the  centre 
of  this  formidable  position  that  William  arrayed  his  Norman  knight- 
hood, while  the  mercenary  forces  he  had  gathered  in  France  and 
Britanny  were  ordered  to  attack  its  flanks.  A  general  charge  of 
the  Norman  foot  opened  the  battle  ;  in  front  rode  the  minstrel 
Taillefer,  tossing  his  sword  in  the  air  and  catching  it  again  while 
he  chaunted  the  song  of  Roland.  He  was  the  first  of  the  host  who 
struck  a  blow,  and  he  was  the  first  to  fall.  The  charge  broke 
vainly  on  the  stout  stockade  behind  which  the  English  warriors 
plied  axe  and  javelin  with  fierce  cries  of  "  Out,  out,"  and  the 
repulse  of  the  Norman  footmen  was  followed  by  a  repulse  of 
the  Norman  horse.  Again  and  again  the  Duke  rallied  and 
led  them  to  the  fatal  stockade.  All  the  fury  of  fight  that 
glowed  in  his  Norseman's  blood,  all  the  headlong  valour  that  had 
spurred  him  over  the  slopes  of  Val-es-dunes,  mingled  that  day  with 
the  coolness  of  head,  the  dogged  perseverance,  the  inexhaustible 
faculty  of  resource  which  had  shone  at  Mortemer  and  Vara- 
ville.  His  Breton  troops,  entangled  in  the  marshy  ground  on  his 
left,  broke  in  disorder,  and  as  panic  spread  through  the  army  a  cry 
arose  that  the  Duke  was  slain.  "  I  live,"  shouted  William,  as  he 
tore  off  his  helmet,  "  and  by  God's  help  will  conquer  yet."  Mad- 
dened by  repulse,  the  Duke  spurred  right  at  the  Standard  ;  un- 
horsed, his  terrible  mace  struck  down  Gyrth,  the  King's  brother ; 


ii  ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS  149 

again  dismounted,  a  blow  from  his  hand  hurled  to  the  ground  an      SEC.  iv 
unmannerly  rider  who  would  not  lend  him  his  steed.     Amidst  the        THE 

CONQUEROR 

roar  and  tumult  of  the  battle  he  turned  the  flight  he  had  arrested  1042 
into  the  means  of  victory.  Broken  as  the  stockade  was  by  his  des-  ^5 
perate  onset,  the  shield-wall  of  the  warriors  behind  it  still  held  the 
Normans  at  bay  till  William  by  a  feint  of  flight  drew  a  part  of  the 
English  force  from  their  post  of  vantage.  Turning  on  his  dis- 
orderly pursuers,  the  Duke  cut  them  to  pieces,  broke  through  the 
abandoned  line,  and  made  himself  master  of  the  central  ground. 
Meanwhile  the  French  and  Bretons  made  good  their  ascent  on 
either  flank.  At  three  the  hill  seemed  won,  at  six  the  fight  still 
raged  around  the  Standard,  where  Harold's  hus-carls  stood  stub- 
bornly at  bay  on  a  spot  marked  afterwards  by  the  high  altar  of 
Battle  Abbey.  An  order  from  the  Duke  at  last  brought  his  archers 
to  the  front,  and  their  arrow-flight  told  heavily  on  the  dense  masses 
crowded  around  the  King.  As  the  sun  went  down  a  shaft  pierced 
Harold's  right  eye  ;  he  fell  between  the  royal  ensigns,  and  the 
battle  closed  with  a  desperate  melly  over  his  corpse.  While  night 
covered  the  flight  of  the  English,  the  Conqueror  pitched  his  tent  on 
the  very  spot  where  his  rival  had  fallen,  and  "  sat  down  to  eat  and 
drink  among  the  dead." 

Securing  Romney  and  Dover,  the  Duke  marched  by  Canter-  William 
bury  upon  London.  Faction  and  intrigue  were  doing  his  work  for  bec°mes 
him  as  he  advanced.  Harold's  brothers  had  fallen  with  the  King 
on  the  field  of  Senlac,  and  there  was  none  of  the  house  of  Godwine 
to  contest  the  crown  ;  while  of  the  old  royal  line  there  remained 
but  a  single  boy,  Eadgar  the  yEtheling,  son  of  the  eldest  of  Ead- 
mund  Ironside's  children,  who  had  fled  before  Cnut's  persecution 
as  far  as  Hungary  for  shelter.  Boy  as  he  was,  he  was  chosen 
king  ;  but  the  choice  gave  little  strength  to  the  national  cause. 
The  widow  of  the  Confessor  surrendered  Winchester  to  the  Duke. 
The  bishops  gathered  at  London  inclined  to  submission.  The 
citizens  themselves  faltered  as  William,  passing  by  their  walls,  gave 
Southwark  to  the  flames.  The  throne  of  the  boy-king  really  rested 
for  support  on  the  Earls  of  Mercia  and  Northumbria,  Eadwine  and 
Morkere  ;  and  William,  crossing  the  Thames  at  Wallingford  and 
'marching  into  Hertfordshire,  threatened  to  cut  them  off  from  their 
earldoms.  The  masterly  movement  brought  about  an  instant  sub- 


150  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  iv     mission.      Eadwine    and    Morkere    retreated    hastily   home    from 
THE        London,  and  the  city  gave  way  at  once.     Eadgar  himself  was  at 

CONQUEROR  J  J 

1042       the  head  of  the  deputation  who  came  to  offer  the  crown  to  the 

TO 

1066  Norman  Duke.  "  They  bowed  to  him,"  says  the  English  annalist 
pathetically,  "  for  need."  They  bowed  to  the  Norman  as  they  had 
bowed  to  the  Dane,  and  William  accepted  the  crown  in  the  spirit  of 
Cnut.  London  indeed  was  secured  by  the  erection  of  a  fortress 
which  afterwards  grew  into  the  Tower,  but  William  desired  to  reign 
not  as  a  conqueror  but  as  a  lawful  king.  He  received  the  crown  at 
Westminster  from  the  hands  of  Archbishop  Ealdred,  amidst  shouts 
Christmas  of  "  Yea,  Yea,"  from  his  new  English  subjects.  Fines  from  the 
greater  landowners  atoned  for  a  resistance  which  was  now  counted 
as  rebellion  ;  but  with  this  exception  every  measure  of  the  new 
sovereign  indicated  his  desire  of  ruling  as  a  successor  of  Eadward 
or  ^Elfred.  As  yet  indeed  the  greater  part  of  England  remained 
quietly  aloof  from  him,  and  he  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  been 
recognized  as  king  by  Northumberland  or  the  greater  part  of 
Mercia.  But  to  the  east  of  a  line  which  stretched  from  Norwich  to 
Dorsetshire  his  rule  was  unquestioned,  and  over  this  portion  he 
ruled  as  an  English  king.  His  soldiers  were  kept  in  strict  order. 
No  change  was  made  in  law  or  custom.  The  privileges  of  London 
were  recognized  by  a  royal  writ  which  still  remains,  the  most 
venerable  of  its  muniments,  among  the  city's  archives.  Peace  and 
order  were  restored.  William  even  attempted,  though  in  vain,  to 
learn  the  English  tongue  that  he  might  personally  administer 
justice  to  the  suitors  in  his  court.  The  kingdom  seemed  so  tran- 
quil that  only  a  few  months  had  passed  after  the  battle  of  Senlac 
when  William,  leaving  England  in  charge  of  his  brother,  Odo 
Bishop  of  Bayeux,  and  his  minister,  William  Fitz-Osbern,  returned 
for  a  while  to  Normandy. 


II 


ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS 


SEC.  V 

THE 

NORMAN 

CONQUEST 

1068 

TO 
1071 


Section  V. — The  Norman  Conquest,  1068 — 1071 

[Authorities. — The  Norman  writers  as  before,  Orderic  being  particularly 
valuable  and  detailed.  The  Chronicle  and  Florence  of  Worcester  are  the 
primary  English  authorities  (for  the  so-called  "Ingulf  of  Croyland"  is  a 
forgery  of  the  I4th  century).  Domesday  Book  is  of  course  indispensable  for 
the  Norman  settlement  ;  the  introduction  to  it  by  Sir  Henry  Ellis  gives  a  brief 
account  of  its  chief  results.  Among  secondary  authorities  Simeon  of  Durham 
is  useful  for  northern  matters,  and  William  of  Malmesbury  valuable  from  his 
remarkable  combination  of  Norman  and  English  feeling.  The  Norman  Con- 
stitution is  described  at  length  by  Lingard,  but  best  studied  in  the  Constitutional 
History  and  Select  Charters  of  Dr.  Stubbs.  The  "  Anglia  Judaica"  of  Toovey 
gives  some  account  of  the  Jewish  colonies.  For  the  history  as  a  whole,  see 
Mr.  Freeman's  "  Norman  Conquest,"  vol.  iv.] 


It  is  not  to  his  victory  at  Senlac,  but  to  the  struggle  which  The 
followed  his  return  from  Normandy,  that  William  owes  his  title  of  Revolt 
the  "  Conqueror."  During  his  absence  Bishop  Odo's  tyranny  had 
forced  the  Kentish- 
men  to  seek  aid  from 
Count  Eustace  of 
Boulogne  ;  while  the 
Welsh  princes  sup- 
ported a  similar  rising 
against  Norman  op- 
pression in  the  west. 
But  as  yet  the  bulk 
of  the  land  held  fairly 
to  the  new  king. 
Dover  was  saved  from 
Eustace  ;  and  the  dis- 
contented fled  over 
sea  to  seek  refuge  in 
lands  as  far  off  as 
Constantinople,  where 
Englishmen  from  this 
time  formed  great  part 
of,  the  body-guard  or 

Varangians  of  the  Eastern  Emperors.     William  returned  to  take 
his  place  again  as  an  English  King.     It  was  with  an  English  force 


GREAT    SEAL    OF    WILLIAM    THE    CONQUEROR. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  V 

THE 
NORMAN 
CONQUEST 

1068 

TO 
1071 


1068 


that  he  subdued  a  rising  in  the  south-west  led  by  Exeter,  and  it 
was  at  the  head  of  an  English  army  that  he  completed  his  work  by 
marching  to  the  North.  His  march  brought  Eadwine  and  Morkere 
again  to  submission  ;  a  fresh  rising  ended  in  the  occupation  of 
York,  and  England  as  far  as  the  Tees  lay  quietly  at  William's  feet. 
It  was  in  fact  only  the  national  revolt  of  1068  that  transformed 
the  King  into  a  Conqueror.  The  signal  for  this  revolt  came  from 
without.  Swein,  the  king  of  Denmark,  had  for  two  years  been 
preparing  to  dispute  England  with  the  Norman,  and  on  the  ap- 
pearance of  his  fleet  in  the  Humber,  all  northern,  all  western  and 
south-western  England  rose  as  one  man.  Eadgar  the  ^Etheling 
with  a  band  of  exiles  who  had  taken  refuge  in  Scotland  took  the 
head  of  the  Northumbrian  revolt  ;  in  the  south-west  the  men  of 

Devon,  Somerset,  and  Dorset 
gathered  to  the  sieges  of  Exeter 
and  Montacute  ;  while  a  new  Nor- 
man castle  at  Shrewsbury  alone 
bridled  a  rising  in  the  west.  So 
ably  had  the  revolt  been  planned 
that  even  William  was  taken  by 
surprise.  The  news  of  the  loss  of 
York  and  of  the  slaughter  of  three 
thousand  Normans  who  formed 
its  garrison  reached  him  as  he  was 
hunting  in  the  Forest  of  Dean  ;  and 
^  in  a  wild  outburst  of  wrath  the  king 
swore  "  by  the  splendour  of  God  " 
to  avenge  himself  on  the  North. 
But  wrath  went  hand  in  hand 
with  the  coolest  statesmanship. 

William  saw  clearly  that  the  centre  of  resistance  lay  in  the  Danish 
fleet,  and  pushing  rapidly  to  the  Humber  with  a  handful  of  horse- 
men, he  purchased  by  a  heavy  bribe  its  inactivity  and  withdrawal. 
Then  leaving  York  to  the  last,  William  turned  rapidly  westward 
with  the  troops  which  gathered  round  him,  and  swept  the  Welsh 
border  as  far  as  Shrewsbury,  while  William  Fitz-Osbern  broke  the 
rising  round  Exeter.  His  success  set  the  King  free  to  fulfil  his  oath 
of  vengeance  on  the  North.  After  a  long  delay  before  the  flooded 


ARCHER. 

Eleventh  Century. 

JfS.  Cott.  Claud.  B.  iv. 


ii  ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS  153 

waters  of  the  Aire  he  entered  York,  and  ravaged  the  whole  country      SEC.  v 
as  far  as  the  Tees  with  fire  and  sword.     Town  and  village  were        THE 

NORMAN 

harried  and  burnt,  their  inhabitants  slain  or  driven  over  the  Scotch    CONQUEST 

1068 
border.    The  coast  was  especially  wasted  that  no  hold  might  remain         TO 

for  any  future  invasion  of  the  Danes.  Harvest,  cattle,  the  very 
implements  of  husbandry  were  so  mercilessly  destroyed  that  the 
famine  which  followed  is  said  to  have  swept  off  more  than  a  hundred 
thousand  victims,  and  half  a  century  later  the  land  still  lay  bare  of 
culture  and  deserted  of  men  for  sixty  miles  northward  of  York.  The 
work  of  vengeance  was  no  sooner  over  than  William  led  his  army 
back  from  the  Tees  to  York,  and  thence  to  Chester  and  the  West. 
Never  had  he  shown  the  grandeur  of  his  character  so  memorably 
as  in  this  terrible  march.  The  winter  was  severe,  the  roads  choked 
with  snow  drifts  or  broken  by  torrents  ;  provisions  failed,  and  the 
army,  drenched  with  rain  and  forced  to  consume  its  horses  for  food, 
broke  out  into  open  mutiny  at  the  order  to  advance  across  the 
bleak  moorlands  that  part  Yorkshire  from  the  West.  The  merce- 
naries from  Anjou  and  Britanny  demanded  their  release  from 
service,  and  William  granted  their  prayer  with  scorn.  On  foot, 
at  the  head  of  the  troops  which  remained  faithful,  the  King  forced 
his  way  by  paths  inaccessible  to  horses,  often  aiding  his  men  with 
his  own  hands  to  clear  the  road.  The  last  hopes  of  the  English 
ceased  on  his  arrival  at  Chester ;  the  King  remained  undisputed 
master  of  the  conquered  country,  and  busied  himself  in  the  erection 
of  numerous  castles  which  were  henceforth  to  hold  it  in  subjection. 
Two  years  passed  quietly  ere  the  last  act  of  the  conquest  was  Last 
reached.  By  the  withdrawal  of  the  Dane  the  hopes  of  England  SJf^ee 

rested  wholly  on  the  aid  it  looked  for  from  Scotland,  where  Eadgar    Enghsh 

1071 
the  ^Etheling  had  taken  refuge,  and  where  his  sister  Margaret  had 

become  the  wife  of  King  Malcolm.  It  was  probably  some  assur- 
ance of  Malcolm's  aid  which  roused  Eadwine  and  Morkere  to  a 
new  revolt,  which  was  at  once  foiled  by  the  vigilance  of  the  Con- 
queror. Eadwine  fell  in  an  obscure  skirmish,  while  Morkere  found 
refuge  for  a  time  in  the  marshes  of  the  eastern  counties,  where  a 
desperate  band  of  patriots  gathered  round  an  outlawed  leader, 
Hereward.  Nowhere  had  William  found  so  stubborn  a  resist- 
ance ;  but  a  causeway  two  miles  long  was  at  last  driven  across  the 
fens,  and  the  last  hopes  of  English  freedom  died  in  the  surrender 


154 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP.  II 


SEC.  V 

THE 

NORMAN 
CONQUEST 

1068 

TO 
1071 

William 
and 

Feudal- 
ism 


of  Ely.  Malcolm  alone  held  out  till  the  Conqueror  summoned 
the  whole  host  of  the  crown,  and  crossing  the  Lowlands  and  the 
Forth  penetrated  into  the  heart  of  Scotland.  He  had  reached  the 
Tay  when  the  King's  resistance  gave  way,  and  Malcolm  appeared 
in  the  English  camp  and  swore  fealty  at  William's  feet. 

The  struggle  which  ended  in  the  fens  of  Ely  had  wholly 
changed  William's  position.  He  no  longer  held  the  land  merely  as 
elected  king,  he  added  to  his  elective  right  the  right  of  conquest. 
The  system  of  government  which  he  originated  was,  in  fact,  the 
result  of  the  double  character  of  his  power.  It  represented  neither 
the  purely  feudal  system  of  the  Continent  nor  the  system  of  the 
older  English  royalty.  More  truly  perhaps  it  may  be  said  to  have 
represented  both.  As  the  successor  of  Eadward,  William  retained 
the  judicial  and  administrative  organization  of  the  older  English 
realm.  As  the  conqueror  of  England  he  introduced  the  military 
organization  of  feudalism  so  far  as  was  necessary  for  the  secure 
possession  of  his  conquests.  The  ground  was  already  prepared  for 
such  an  organization  ;  we  have  seen  the  beginnings  of  English 
feudalism  in  the  warriors,  the  "  companions  "  or  "  thegns  "  who  were 
personally  attached  to  the  king's  war-band,  and  received  estates 
from  the  folk-land  in  reward  for  their  personal  services.  In  later 
times  this  feudal  distribution  of  estates  had  greatly  increased,  as 
the  bulk  of  the  nobles  followed  the  king's  example  and  bound  their 
tenants  to  themselves  by  a  similar  process  of  subinfeudation.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  pure  freeholders,  the  class  which  formed  the 
basis  of  the  original  English  society,  had  been  gradually  reduced 
in  number,  partly  through  imitation  of  the  class  above  them,  but 
still  more  through  the  incessant  wars  and  invasions  which  drove 
them  to  seek  protectors  among  the  thegns  at  the  cost  of  their 
independence.  Feudalism,  in  fact,  was  superseding  the  older 
freedom  in  England  even  before  the  reign  of  William,  as  it  had 
already  superseded  it  in  Germany  or  France.  But  the  tendency 
was  quickened  and  intensified  by  the  Conquest ;  the  desperate  and 
universal  resistance  of  his  English  subjects  forced  William  to  hold 
by  the  sword  what  the  sword  had  won,  and  an  army  strong  enough 
to  crush  at  any  moment  a  national  revolt  was  necessary  for  the 
preservation  of  his  throne.  Such  an  army  could  only  be  main- 
tained by  a  vast  confiscation  of  the  soil.  The  failure  of  the 


FEBRUARY.        PRUNING  TREES. 


MARCH.        BREAKING   UP   SOIL — DIGGING — SOWING — HARROWING. 


APRIL.        FEASTING. 

Eleventh  Century. 
Calendar.      MS.  Colt.  Jul.  A.  vi. 


156  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE          CHAP.  11 

SEC.  v      English  risings  cleared  the  way  for  its  establishment  ;  the  greater 
THE       part  of  the  higher  nobility  fell  in  battle  or  fled  into  exile,  while  the 

NORMAN 

CONQUEST  lower  thegnhood  either  forfeited  the  whole  cf  their  lands  or 
TO  redeemed  a  portion  of  them  by  the  surrender  of  the  rest.  We  see 
the  completeness  of  the  confiscation  in  the  vast  estates  which 
William  was  enabled  to  grant  to  his  more  powerful  followers. 
Two  hundred  manors  in  Kent,  with  an  equal  number  elsewhere, 
rewarded  the  services  of  his  brother  Odo,  and  grants  almost  as 
large  fell  to  William's  counsellors,  Fitz-Osbern  and  Montgomery, 
or  to  barons  like  the  Mowbrays  and  the  Clares.  But  the  poorest 
soldier  of  fortune  found  his  part  in  the  spoil.  The  meanest 
Norman  rose  to  wealth  and  power  in  the  new  dominion  of  his  lord. 
Great  or  small,  however,  each  estate  thus  granted  was  granted  on 
condition  of  its  holder's  service  at  the  king's  call ;  and  when  the 
larger  holdings  were  divided  by  their  owners  into  smaller  sub- 
tenancies, the  under-tenants  were  bound  by  the  same  conditions  of 
service  to  their  lord.  "  Hear,  my  lord,"  swore  the  feudal  de- 
pendant, as  kneeling  without  arms  and  bareheaded  he  placed  his 
hands  within  those  of  his  superior :  "  I  become  liege  man  of  yours 
for  life  and  limb  and  earthly  regard,  and  I  will  keep  faith  and  loyalty 
to  you  for  life  and  death,  God  help  me."  The  kiss  of  his  lord 
invested  him  with  land  or  "  fief "  to  descend  to  him  and  his  heirs 
for  ever.  A  whole  army  was  by  this  means  encamped  upon  the 
soil,  and  William's  summons  could  at  any  moment  gather  an 
overwhelming  force  around  his  standard. 
The  Such  a  force  however,  effective  as  it  was  against  the  conquered, 

Barcmage  was  hardly  less  formidable  to  the  Crown  itself.  William  found 
himself  fronted  in  his  new  realm  by  the  feudal  baronage  whom  he 
had  so  hardly  subdued  to  his  will  in  Normandy,  nobles  impatient 
of  law,  as  jealous  of  the  royal  power,  and  as  eager  for  unbridled 
military  and  judicial  independence  within  their  own  manors  here 
as  there.  The  genius  of  the  Conqueror  was  shown  in  his  quick 
discernment  of  this  danger,  and  in  the  skill  with  which  he  met  it. 
He  availed  himself  of  the  old  legal  constitution  of  the  country  to 
hold  justice  firmly  in  his  own  .hands.  He  retained  the  local  courts 
of  the  hundred  and  the  shire,  where  every  freeman  had  a  place, 
while  he  subjected  all  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  King's  Court,  which 
towards  the  close  of  the  earlier  English  monarchy  had  assumed  the 


MAY.        WATCHING    SHEIiP. 


JUNE.        CUTTING  WOOD. 


JULY.        HAYMAKING. 


AUGUST.        HARVESTING. 

Eleventh  Century. 
Calendar.      MS.  Cott.  Jul.  A.  vi. 


158  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE          CHAP,  n 

SEC.  v      right  of  hearing  appeals  and  of  calling  up  cases  from  any  quarter 
THE        to  its  bar.     The  authority  of  the  Crown  was  maintained  by  the 

NORMAN  J 

CONQUEST  abolition  of  the  great  earldoms  which  had  overshadowed  it,  those 
TO  of  Wessex,  Mercia,  and  Northumberland,  and  by  the  royal  nomina- 
tion of  sheriffs  for  the  government  of  the  shires.  Large  as  the 
estates  he  granted  were,  they  were  scattered  over  the  country  in  a 
way  which  made  union  between  the  landowners,  or  the  hereditary 
attachment  of  great  masses  of  vassals  to  a  separate  lord  equally  im- 
possible. In  other  countries  a  vassal  owed  fealty  to  his  lord  against 
all  foes,  be  they  king  or  no.  By  a  usage  however  which  William 
enacted,  and  which  was  peculiar  to  England,  each  sub-tenant,  in 
addition  to  his  oath  of  fealty  to  his  lord,  swore  fealty  directly  to  the 
Crown,  and  loyalty  to  the  King  was  thus  established  as  the 
supreme  and  universal  duty  of  all  Englishmen.  The  feudal 
obligations,  too,  the  rights  and  dues  owing  from  each  estate  to  the 
King,  were  enforced  with  remarkable  strictness.  Each  tenant  was 
bound  to  appear  if  needful  thrice  a  year  at  the  royal  court,  to  pay 
a  heavy  fine  or  rent  on  succession  to  his  estate,  to  contribute  an 
"  aid  "  in  money  in  case  of  the  King's  capture  in  war,  or  the  knight- 
hood of  the  King's  eldest  son,  or  the  marriage  of  his  eldest  daughter. 
An  heir  who  was  still  a  minor  passed  into  the  crown's  wardship, 
and  all  profit  from  his  estate  went  for  the  time  to  the  King.  If  the 
estate  devolved  upon  an  heiress,  her  hand  was  at  the  King's  disposal, 
and  was  generally  sold  to  the  highest  bidder.  Over  the  whole  face 
of  the  land  most  manors  were  burthened  with  their  own  "  customs," 
or  special  dues  to  the  Crown  :  and  it  was  for  the  purpose  of 
ascertaining  and  recording  these  that  William  sent  into  each  county 
the  commissioners  whose  inquiries  are  preserved  in  Domesday  Book. 
A  jury  empanelled  in  each  hundred  declared  on  oath  the  extent 
and  nature  of  each  estate,  the  names,  number,  condition  of  its 
inhabitants,  its  value  before  and  after  the  Conquest,  and  the  sums 
due  from  it  to  the  Crown. 

The  William  found  another  check  on  the  aggressive  spirit  of  the 

of  the      feudal  baronage  in  his  organization  of  the  Church.     One  of  his 

rmans   earijesj-  ac^s  was  to  summon  Lanfranc  from  Normandy  to  aid   him 

in  its  reform  ;  and  the  deposition  of  Stigand,  which  raised  Lanfranc 

to  the  see  of  Canterbury,  was  followed  by  the  removal  of  most  of 

the  English  prelates  and  abbots,  and  by  the  appointment  of  Norman 


SEPTEMBER.        HUNTING — PASTURING  SWINE. 


OCTOBER.        HAWKING. 


NOVEMBER.        GROUP   ROUND   A  FIRE. 


DECEMBER.        THRESHING  AND  WINNOWING. 

Eleventh  Century. 
Calendar.      MS.  Cott.  Jul.  A.  vi. 


i6o 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  v  ecclesiastics  in  their  place.     The   new   archbishop   did    much   to 

THE  restore  discipline,  and  William's  own  efforts  were  no  doubt  partly 

NORMAN 

CONQUEST  directed  by  a  real  desire  for  the  religious  improvement  of  his  realm. 


TO 
1071 


CHAPEL    IN    THE    TOWER    OF    LONDON. 
Built  by  William  the  Conqueror. 


"  In  choosing  abbots  and  bishops,"  says  a  contemporary,  "he  con- 
sidered not  so  much  men's  riches  or  power  as  their  holiness  and 
wisdom.  He  called  together  bishops  and  abbots  and  other  wise 


ii  ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS  161 


counsellors  in  any  vacancy,  and  by  their  advice  inquired  very  care-       SEC.  v 
fully  who  was  the  best  and  wisest  man,  as  well  in  divine  things  as        THE 

NORMAN 

in  worldly,  to  rule  the  Church  of  God."  But  honest  as  they  were,  C^Q^ST 
the  King's  reforms  tended  directly  to  the  increase  of  the  royal  TO 
power.  The  new  bishops  and  abbots  were  cut  off  by  their  foreign 
origin  from  the  flocks  they  ruled,  while  their  popular  influence  was 
lessened  by  the  removal  of  ecclesiastical  cases  from  shire  or 
hundred-court,  where  the  bishop  had  sat  side  by  side  with  the  civil 
magistrate,  to  the  separate  court  of  the  bishop  himself.  The 
change  was  pregnant  with  future  trouble  to  the  Crown  ;  but  for  the 
moment  it  told  mainly  in  removing  the  bishop  from  his  traditional 
contact  with  the  popular  assembly,  and  in  effacing  the  memory  of 
the  original  equality  of  the  religious  with  the  civil  power.  The 
dependence  of  the  Church  on  the  royal  power  was  strictly  enforced. 
Homage  was  exacted  from  bishop  as  from  baron.  No  royal  tenant 
could  be  excommunicated  without  the  King's  leave.  No  synod 
could  legislate  without  hfs  previous  assent  and  subsequent  con- 
firmation of  its  decrees.  No  papal  letters  could  be  received  within 
the  realm  save  by  his  permission.  William  firmly  repudiated  the 
claims  which  were  now  beginning  to  be  put  forward  by  the  court  of 
Rome.  When  Gregory  VII.  called  on  him  to  do  fealty  for  his 
realm,  the  King  sternly  refused  to  admit  the  claim.  "  Fealty  I 
have  never  willed  to  do,  nor  do  I  will  to  do  it  now.  I  have  jiever 
promised  it,  nor  do  I  find  that  my  predecessors  did  it  to  yours." 

But  the  greatest  safeguard  of  the  Crown  lay  in  the  wealth  and  Settle- 
personal  power  of  the  kings.  Extensive  as  had  been  his  grants  to  the  jews 
noble  and  soldier,  William  remained  the  greatest  landowner  in  his 
realm.  His  rigid  exaction  of  feudal  dues  added  wealth  to  the 
great  hoard  at  Winchester,  which  had  been  begun  by  the  spoil  of 
the  conquered.  But  William  found  a  more  ready  source  of  revenue 
in  the  settlement  of  the  Jewish  traders,  who  followed  him  from 
Normandy,  and  who  were  enabled  by  the  royal  protection  to 
establish  themselves  in  separate  quarters  or  "  Jewries  "  of  the  chief 
towns  of  England.  The  Jew  had  no  right  or  citizenship  in  the 
land  ;  the  Jewry  in  which  he  lived  was,  like  the  King's  forest, 
exempt  from  the  common  law.  He  was  simply  the  King's  chattel, 
and  his  life  and  goods  were  absolutely  at  the  King's  mercy.  But 
he  was  too  valuable  a  possession  to  be  lightly  thrown  away.  A 
VOL.  I— n 


162 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  v      royal  justiciary  secured  law  to  the  Jewish  merchant,  who  had  no 
THE        standing-ground  in  the  local  courts  ;  his  bonds  were  deposited  for 

NORMAN 

CONQUEST    safety  in  a  chamber  of  the  royal  palace  at  Westminster  ;  he  was 

TO         protected   against   the   popular  hatred   in   the  free  exercise  of  his 

religion,   and  allowed   to  build  synagogues  and  to  direct  his  own 

ecclesiastical  affairs  by  means  of  a  chief  Rabbi.     That  the  presence 


EARL'S  BARTON  CHURCH  TOWER. 

Eleventh  Century. 


TASEBURGH   CHURCH   TOWER. 
Twelfth  Century. 


of  the  Jew  was,  at  least  in  the  earlier  years  of  his  settlement, 
beneficial  to  the  kingdom  at  large  there  can  be  little  doubt.  His 
arrival  was  the  arrival  of  a  capitalist  ;  and  heavy  as  was  the  usury 
he  necessarily  exacted  in  the  general  insecurity  of  the  time,  his 
loans  gave  an  impulse  to  industry  such  as  England  had  never  felt 
before.  The  century  which  followed  the  Conquest  witnessed  an 
outburst  of  architectural  energy  which  covered  the  land  with  castles 


o»   cj 


II  ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS  163 

and  cathedrals  ;  but  castle  and  cathedral  alike  owed  their  existence      SEC.  vi 
to  the  loans  of  the  Jew.     His  own  example  gave  a  new  direction        THE 

.  ENGLISH 

to  domestic  architecture.     The  buildings  which,  as  at  Lincoln  and     REVIVAL 
S.  Edmundsbury,  still   retain  their  title  of  "  Jews'  Houses  "  were       'TO* 

II 27 

almost  the  first  houses  of  stone  which  superseded  the  mere  hovels 
of  the  English  burghers.  Nor  was  the  influence  of  the  Jews  simply 
industrial.  Through  their  connection  with  the  Jewish  schools  in 
Spain  and  the  East  they  opened  a  way  for  the  revival  of  physical 
science.  A  Jewish  medical  school  seems  to  have  existed  at  Oxford  ; 
Roger  Bacon  himself  studied  under  English  Rabbis.  But  to  the 
kings  the  Jew  was  simply  an  engine  of  finance.  The  wealth  which 
•his  industry  accumulated  was  wrung  from  him  whenever  the  Crown 
had  need,  and  torture  and  imprisonment  were  resorted  to  if  milder 
entreaties  failed.  It  was  the  gold  of  the  Jew  that  filled  the  royal 
exchequer  at  the  outbreak  of  war  or  of  revolt.  It  was  in  the 
Hebrew  coffers  that  the  Norman  kings  found  strength  to  hold  their 
baronage  at  bay. 


Section  VI. — The  English  Revival,  1071 — 1127. 

[Authorities, — Orderic  and  the  English  chroniclers,  as  before.  Eadmer,  a 
monk  of  Canterbury,  in  his  "  Historia  Novorum"  and  his  "Life  of  Anselm," 
is  the  chief  source  of  information  for  the  reign  of  William  the  Second.  William 
of  Malmesbury  and  Henry  of  Huntingdon  are  both  contemporary  authorities 
during  that  of  Henry  the  P'irst :  the  latter  remains  a  brief  but  accurate  annalist ; 
the  former  is  the  leader  of  a  new  historic  school,  who  treat  English  events  as 
part  of  the  history  of  the  world,  and  emulate  classic  models  by  a  more  philo- 
sophical arrangement  of  their  materials.  See  for  them  the  opening  section  of 
the  next  chapter.  On  the  early  history  of  our  towns  the  reader  may  gain  some- 
thing from  Mr.  Thompson's  "English  Municipal  History"  (London,  1857); 
more  from  the  "  Charter  Rolls  "  (published  by  the  Record  Commissioners)  ;  for 
S.  Edmundsbury  see  "  Chronicle  of  Jocelyn  de  Brakelond  "  (Camden  Society). 
The  records  of  the  Cistercian  Abbeys  of  Yorkshire  in  Dugdale's  "  Monasticon  " 
illustrate  the  religious  revival.  Henry's  administration  is  admirably  explained 
for  the  first  time  by  Dr.  Stubbs  in  his  "  Constitutional  History."] 

The  Conquest  was  hardly  over  when  the  struggle  between  the    William 
baronage  and  the  Crown  began.     The  wisdom  of  William's  policy 
in  the  destruction  of  the  great  earldoms  which  had  overshadowed 
the  throne  was  shown  in  an  attempt  at  their  restoration  made  by 


164 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  VI 

THE 

ENGLISH 
REVIVAL 

1071 

TO 
1127 

1075 


Roger,  the  son  of  his  minister  William  Fitz-Osbern,  and  by  the 
Breton,  Ralf  de  Guader,  whom  the  King  had  rewarded  for  his 
services  at  Senlac  with  the  earldom  of  Norfolk.  The  rising  was 
quickly  suppressed,  Roger  thrown  into  prison,  and  Ralf  driven 
over  sea  ;  but  the  intrigues  of  the  baronage  soon  found  another 
leader  in  William's  half-brother,  the  Bishop  of  Bayeux.  Under 
pretence  of  aspiring  by  arms  to  the  papacy,  Bishop  Odo  collected 
money  and  men,  but  the  treasure  was  at  once  seized  by  the  royal 
officers,  and  the  Bishop  arrested  in  the  midst  of  the  court.  Even 
at  the  King's  bidding  no  officer  would  venture  to  seize  on  a  prelate 
of  the  Church  ;  it  was  with  his  own  hands  that  William  was 
forced  to  effect  his  arrest.  "  I  arrest  not  the  Bishop,  but  the  Earl 
of  Kent,"  laughed  the  Conqueror,  and  Odo  remained  a  prisoner  till 
William's  death.  It  was  in  fact  this  vigorous  personality  cf 
William  which  provad  th2  chief  safeguard  of  his  throne.  "  Stark 
he  was,"  says  the  English  chronicler,  "  to  men  that  withstood 
him.  Earls  that  did  aught  against  his  bidding  he  cast  into  bonds  ; 
bishops  he  stripped  of  their  bishopricks,  abbots  of  their  abbacies. 

He  spared  not  his 
own  brother :  first 
he  was  in  the  land, 
but  the  King  cast 
him  into  bondage. 
If  a  man  would 
live  and  hold  his 
lands,  need  it  were 
that  he  followed 
the  King's  will." 
But  stern  as  his 
rule  was,  it  gave 
peace  to  the  land. 
Even  amidst  the 
sufferings  which 
necessarily  sprang 
from  the  circum- 
stances of  the  Conquest  itself,  from  the  erection  of  castles,  or  the 
enclosure  of  forests,  or  the  exactions  which  built  up  the  great  hoard 
at  Winchester,  Englishmen  were  unable  to  forget  "  the  good  peace 


BUILDING. 

Eleventh  Century. 

MS.  Cott.  Claud.  B.  iv. 


II 


ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS 


'65 


he  made  in  the  land,  so  that  a  man  might  fare  over  his  realm 
with  a  bosom  full  of  gold."  Strange  touches  of  a  humanity  far 
in  advance  of  his  age  contrasted  with  the  general  temper  of 
his  government.  One  of  the 
strongest  traits  in  his  character 
was  his  aversion  to  shed  blood 
by  process  of  law  ;  he  formally 
abolished  the  punishment  of 
death,  and  only  a  single  execu- 
tion stains  the  annals  of  his  reign. 
An  edict  yet  more  honourable 
to  him  put  an  end  to  the  slave- 
trade  which  had  till  then  been 
carried  on  at  the  port  of  Bristol. 
The  pitiless  warrior,  the  stern 
and  aweful  king  was  a  tender 
and  faithful  husband,  an  affec- 
tionate father.  The  lonely  silence 
of  his  bearing  broke  into  gracious 
converse  with  pure  and  sacred 
souls  like  Anselm.  If  William 

was  "stark"  to  rebel  and  baron,  men   noted  that  he  was  "mild 
to  those  that  loved  God." 

In  power  as  in  renown  the  Conqueror  towered  high  above  his 
predecessors  on  the  throne.  The  fear  of  the  Danes,  which  had  so 
long  hung  like  a  thunder-cloud  over  England,  passed  away  before 
the  host  which  William  gathered  to  meet  a  great  armament 
assembled  by  King  Cnut.  A  mutiny  dispersed  the  Danish  fleet, 
and  the  murder  of  its  king  removed  all  peril  from  the  North. 
Scotland,  already  humbled  by  William's  invasion,  was  bridled  by 
the  erection  of  a  strong  fortress  at  Newcastle-upon-Tyne  ;  and 
after  penetrating  with  his  army  to  the  heart  of  Wales,  the  King 
commenced  its  systematic  reduction  by  settling  barons  along  its 
frontier.  It  was  not  till  his  closing  years  that  his  unvarying 
success  was  disturbed  by  a  rebellion  of  his  son  Robert  and  a 
quarrel  with  France  ;  as  he  rode  down  the  steep  street  of  Mantes, 
which  he  had  given  to  the  flames,  his  horse  stumbled  among  the 
embers,  and  William,  flung  heavily  against  his  saddle,  was  borne 


SEC.  VI 

THE 

ENGLISH 
REVIVAL 

1071 

TO 
1127 


DIGGING. 

Eleventh  Century. 

MS.  Cott.  Claud.  B.  iv. 


The 

English 

and  theii 

Kings 


1085 


166  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  vi      home  to  Rouen  to  die.     The  sound  of  the  minster  bell  woke  him 
THE        at  dawn  as  he  lay  in  the  convent  of  St.  Gervais.  overlooking  the 

ENGLISH 

REVIVAL     cjty — ft  was  thc  hour  of  prime — and  stretching  out  his  hands  in 
1071 

TO         prayer  the  Conqueror  passed  quietly  away.     With  him  passed  the 
1 127 

terror  which  had  held  the  baronage  in  awe,  while  the  severance 

Death 

of  the  of  his  dominions  roused  their  hopes  of  successful  resistance  to  the 
onqneror  stern  ruje  beneath  which  they  had  bowed.  William  bequeathed 
Normandy  to  his  eldest  son  Robert  ;  William,  his  second  son, 
hastened  with  his  father's  ring  to  England,  where  the  influence  of 
Lanfranc  at  once  secured  him  the  crown.  The  baronage  seized 
the  opportunity  to  rise  in  arms  under  pretext  of  supporting  the 
claims  of  Robert,  whose  weakness  of  character  gave  full  scope  for 
the  growth  of  feudal  independence,  and  Bishop  Odo  placed  him- 
self at  the  head  of  the  revolt.  The  new  King  was  thrown  almost 
wholly  on  the  loyalty  of  his  English  subjects.  But  the  national 
stamp  which  William  had  given  to  his  kingship  told  at  once. 
Bishop  Wulfstan  of  Worcester,  the  one  surviving  bishop  of 
English  blood,  defeated  the  insurgents  in  ths  West  ;  while  the 
King,  summoning  the  freemen  of  country  and  town  to  his  host 
under  pain  of  being  branded  as  "  nithing  "  or  worthless,  advanced 
with  a  large  force  against  Rochester,  where  the  barons  were 
concentrated.  A  plague  which  broke  out  among  the  garrison 
forced  them  to  capitulate,  and  as  the  prisoners  passed  through  the 
royal  army,  cries  of  "  gallows  and  cord "  burst  from  the  English 
ranks.  At  a  later  period  of  his  reign  a  conspiracy  was  organized 
to  place  Stephen  of  Albemarle,  a  near  cousin  of  the  royal  house, 
upon  the  throne  ;  but  the  capture  of  Robert  Mowbray,  the  Earl  of 
Northumberland,  who  had  placed  himself  at  its  head,  and  the 
imprisonment  and  exile  of  his  fellow-conspirators,  again  crushed 
the  hopes  of  the  baronage. 
The  Red  While  the  spirit  of  national  patriotism  rose  to  life  again  in  this 

Kinf       struggle  of  the  crown  against  the  baronage,  the  boldness  of    a 
and  the 

Church  single  ecclesiastic  revived  a  national  opposition  to  the  mere 
administrative  despotism  which  now  pressed  heavily  on  the  land. 
If  William  the  Red  inherited  much  of  .his  father's  energy  as 
well  as  his  policy  towards  the  conquered  English,  he  inherited  none 
of  his  moral  grandeur.  His  profligacy  and  extravagance  soon 
exhausted  the  royal  hoard,  and  the  death  of  Lanfranc  left  him  free 


II 


ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS 


167 


to  fill  it  at  the  expense  of  the  Church.  During  the  vacancy  of  a  see 
or  abbey  its  revenues  went  to  the  royal  treasury,  and  so  steadily 
did  William  refuse  to  appoint  successors  to  the  prelates  whom 
death  removed,  that  at  the  close  of  his  reign  one  archbishoprick, 
four  bishopricks,  and  eleven  abbeys  were  found  to  be  without 
pastors.  The  see  of  Canterbury  itself  remained  vacant  till  a 
dangerous  illness  frightened  the  king  into  the  promotion  of 
Anselm,  who  happened  at  the  time  to  be  in  England  on  the 
business  of  his  house. 
The  Abbot  of  Bee 
was  dragged  to  the 
royal  couch  and  the 
cross  forced  into  his 
hands,  but  William 
had  no  sooner  re- 
covered from  his  sick- 
ness than  he  found 
himself  face  to  face 
with  an  opponent 
whose  meek  and  lov- 
ing temper  rose  into 
firmness  and  grandeur 
when  it  fronted  the 
tyranny  of  the  King. 
The  Conquest,  as  we 
have  seen,  had  robbed 
the  Church  of  all 
moral  power  as  the 
representative  of  the 

higher  national  interests  against  a  brutal  despotism  by  placing  it 
in  a  position  of  mere  dependence  on  the  Crown  ;  and  though  the 
struggle  between  William  and  the  Archbishop  turned  for  the  most 
part  on  points  which  have  no  direct  bearing  on  our  history,  the 
boldness  of  Anselm's  attitude  not  only  broke  the  tradition  of  eccle- 
siastical servitude,  but  infused  through  the  nation  at  large  a  new 
spirit  of  independence.  The  real  character  of  the  contest  appears 
in  the  Primate's  answer,  when  his  remonstrances  against  the  lawless 
exactions  from  the  Church  were  met  by  a  demand  for  a  present  on 


SEAL    OF    S.    ANSELM. 
Ducarel,  "Anglo-Norman  Antiquities." 


SEC.  VI 

THE 

ENGLISH 
REVIVAL 


TO 
1127 

Anselm 

Archbishop 

1093 


168 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  vi 

THE 

REVIVAL 

TO 


England 

Henr 
the  First 


Death 


„       , 
Charter 


his  own  promotion,  and  his  first  offer  of  five  hundred  pounds  was 
contemptuously  refused.  "  Treat  me  as  a  free  man,"  Anselm 
replied,  "  and  I  devote  myself  and  all  that  I  have  to  your  service, 
but  if  you  treat  me  as  a  slave  you  shall  have  neither  me  nor  mine." 
A  burst  of  the  Red  King's  fury  drove  the  Archbishop  from  court, 
and  he  finally  decided  to  quit  the  country,  but  his  example  had 
not  been  lost,  and  the  close  of  William's  reign  found  a  new  spirit 
of  freedom  in  England  with  which  the  greatest  of  the  Conqueror's 
sons  was  glad  to  make  terms. 

As  a  soldier  the  Red  King  was  little  inferior  to  his  father.  Nor- 
niandy  had  been  pledged  to  him  by  his  brother  Robert  in  exchange 
for  a  sum  which  enabled  the  Duke  to  march  in  the  first  Crusade 
for  the  delivery  of  the  Holy  Land,  and  a  rebellion  at  Le  Mans  was 
subdued  by  the  fierce  energy  with  which  William  flung  himself  at 
the  news  of  it  into  the  first  boat  he  found,  and  crossed  the  Channel 
in  face  of  a  storm.  "  Kings  never  drown,"  he  replied  contemptu- 
ously to  the  remonstrances  of  his  followers.  Homage  was  again 
wrested  from  Malcolm  by  a  march  to  the  Firth  of  Forth,  and  the 
subsequent  death  of  that  king  threw  Scotland  into  a  disorder  which 
enabled  an  army  under  Eadgar  yEtheling  to  establish  Eadgar,  the 
son  of  Margaret,  as  an  English  feudatory  en  the  throne.  In  Wales 
William  was  less  triumphant,  and  the  terrible  losses  inflicted  on 
the  heavy  Norman  cavalry  in  the  fastnesses  of  Snowdon  forced 
him  to  fall  back  on  the  slower  but  wiser  policy  of  the  Conqueror. 
Triumph  and  defeat  alike  ended  in  a  strange  and  tragical  close  ; 
the  Red  King  was  found  dead  by  peasants  in  a  glade  of  the  New 
Forest,  with  the  arrow  either  of  a  hunter  or  an  assassin  in  his 
breast.  Robert  was  still  on  his  return  from  the  Holy  Land,  where 
his  bravery  had  redeemed  much  of  his  earlier  ill-fame,  and  the 
English  crown  was  at  once  seized  by  his  younger  brother  Henry,  in 
spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  baronage,  who  clung  to  the*  Duke 
of  Normandy  and  the  union  of  their  estates  on  both  sides  the 
Channel  under  a  single  ruler.  Their  attitude  threw  Henry,  as  it 
had  thrown  Rufus,  on  the  support  of  the  English,  and  the  two 
great  measures  which  followed  his  coronation,  his  grant  of  a  charter, 
and  his  marriage  with  Matilda,  mark  the  new  relation  which  was 
thus  brought  about  between  the  people  and  their  King.  Henry's 
Charter  is  important,  not  merely  as  a  direct  precedent  for  the 


II 


ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS 


169 


Great  Charter  of  John,  but  as  the  first  limitation  which  had  been 
imposed  on  the  despotism  established  by  the  Conquest.  The 
"  evil  customs  "  by 
which  the  Red 
King  had  enslaved 
and  plundered  the 
Church  were  ex- 
plicitly renounced 
in  it,  the  unlimited 
demands  made  by 
both  the  Conqueror 
and  his  son  on 
the  baronage  ex- 
changed for  cus- 
tomary fees,  while 
the  rights  of  the 
people  itself, 
though  recognized 
more  vaguely,  were 
not  forgotten.  The 

barons  were  held  to  do  justice  to  their  u.idcr-tenants  and  to  re- 
nounce tyrannical  exactions  from  them,  the  King  promising  to 
restore  order  and  the  "  law  of  Eadward,"  the  old  constitution  of 
the  realm,  with  the  changes  which  his  father  had  introduced.  His 
marriage  gave  a  significance  to  these  promises  which  the  meanest 
English  peasant  could  understand.  Edith,  or  Matilda,  was  the 
daughter  of  King  Malcolm  of  Scotland  and  of  Margaret,  the 
sister  of  Eadgar  ^theling.  She  had  been  brought  up  in  the 
nunnery  of  Romsey,  where  her  aunt  Christina  was  a  nun,  and 
the  veil  which  she  had  taken  there  formed  an  obstacle  to  her 
union  with  the  King  which  was  only  removed  by  the  wisdom 
of  Anselm.  The  Archbishop's  recall  had  been  one  of  Henry's 
first  acts  after  his  accession,  and  Matilda  appeared  before  his 
court  to  tell  her  tale  in  words  of  passionate  earnestness.  She 
had  been  veiled  in  her  childhood,  she  asserted,  only  to  save  her 
from  the  insults  of  the  rude  soldiery  who  infested  the  land,  had 
flung  the  veil  from  her  again  and  again,  and  had  yielded  at  last  to 
the  unwomanly  taunts,  the  actual  blows  of  her  aunt.  "  As  often  as 


GREAT    SEAL    OK    HENRY    I. 


SEC.  VI 


170 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  VI 

THE 
ENGLISH 
REVIVAL 

1071 

TO 
1127 


Henry's 
Marriage 


The 

English 
towns 


I  stood  in  her  presence,"  the  girl  pleaded,  "  I  wore  the  veil,  tremb- 
ling as  I  wore  it  with  indignation  and  grief.  But  as  soon  as  I 
could  get  out  of  her  sight  I  used  to  snatch  it  from  my  head,  fling 
it  on  the  ground,  and  trample  it  under  foot.  That  was  the  way, 
and  none  other,  in  which  I  was  veiled."  Anselm  at  once  declared 
her  free  from  conventual  bonds,  and  the  shout  of  the  English 
multitude  when  he  set  the  crown  on  Matilda's  brow  drowned  the 
murmur  of  Churchman  or  of  baron.  The  taunts  of  the  Norman 
nobles,  who  nicknamed  the  King  and  his  spouse  "  Godric  and 
Godgifu,"  were  lost  in  the  joy  of  the  people  at  large.  For  the  first 
time  since  the  Conquest  an  English  sovereign  sat  on  the  English 
throne.  The  blood  of  Cerdic  and  Alfred  was  to  blend  itself  with 
that  of  Hrolf  and  the  Conqueror.  Henceforth  it  was  impossible 
that  the  two  peoples  should  remain  parted  from  each  other ;  so 
quick  indeed  was  their  union  that  the  very  name  of  Norman  had 
passed  away  in  half  a  century,  and  at  the  accession  of  Henry's 
grandson  it  was  impossible  to  distinguish  between  the  descendants 
of  the  conquerors  and  those  of  the  conquered  at  Senlac. 

We  can  dimly  trace  the  progress  of  this  blending  of  the  two 
races  together  in  the  case  of  the  burgher  population  in  the  towns. 

One  immediate  result  of  the  Conquest  had  been  a  great  immi- 
gration into  England  from  the  Continent.  A  peaceful  invasion  of 


MILKING    AND    CHURN,    A.D.    1130-1174. 
MS.    Trin.  Coll.  Camb.  R.  17,  i. 


the  industrial  and  trading  classes  of  Normandy  followed  quick  on 
the  conquest  of  the  Norman  soldiery.     Every  Norman  noble  as  he 


II 


ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS 


171 


quartered  himself  upon  English  lands,  every  Norman  abbot  as  he 
entered  his  English  cloister,  gathered  French  artists  or  French 
domestics  around  his  new  castle  or  his  new  church.  Around  the 
Abbey  of  Battle,  for  instance,  which  William  had  founded  on  the 
site  of  his  great  victory,  "  Gilbert  the  Foreigner,  Gilbert  the  Weaver, 


WEAVING,    A.D.    1130-1174. 
MS.    Trin.    Coll.   Cantb.    R.    17,  i. 


Benet  the  Steward,  Hugh  the  Secretary,  Baldwin  the  Tailor," 
mixed  with  the  English  tenantry.  More  especially  was  this  the 
case  with  the  capital.  Long  before  the  landing  of  William, 
the  Normans  had  had  mercantile  establishments  in  London.  Such 
settlements  however  naturajly  formed  nothing  more  than  a  trading 
colony  ;  but  London  had  no  sooner  submitted  to  the  Con- 
queror than  "  many  of  the  citizens  of  Rouen  and  Caen  passed 
over  thither,  preferring  to  be  dwellers  in  this  city,  inasmuch  as  it 
was  fitter  for  their  trading  and  better  stored  with  the  merchan- 
dize in  which  they  were  wont  to  traffic."  In  some  cases,  as  at 
Norwich,  the  French  colony  isolated  itself  in  a  separate  French 
town,  side  by  side  with  the  English  borough.  But  in  London  it 
seems  to  have  taken  at  once  the  position  of  a  governing  class. 
Gilbert  Beket,  the  father  of  the  famous  archbishop,  was  believed  in 
later  days  to  have  been  one  of  the  portreeves  of  London,  the  prede- 
cessors of  its  mayors  ;  he  held  in  Stephen's  time  a  large  property  in 


SEC.  VI 

THE 

ENGLISH 
REVIVAL 

1071 

TO 
1127 


172 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  VI 

THE 
ENGLISH 
REVIVAL 

1071 

TO 
1127 


houses  within  the  walls,  and  a  proof  of  his  civic  importance  was 
preserved  in  the  annual  visit  of  each  newly-elected  chief  magistrate 
to  his  tomb  in  the  little  chapel  which  he  had  founded  in  the  church- 
yard of  S.  Paul's.  Yet  Gilbert  was  one  of  the  Norman  strangers 


LOOM    FROM    F^ROE    ISLES. 
Montelius,  "  Civilization  of  Sweden." 

who  followed  in  the  wake  of  the  Conqueror  ;  he  was  by  birth  a 
burgher  of  Rouen,  as  his  wife  was  of  a  burgher  family  from  Caen. 

It  was  partly  to  this  infusion  of  foreign  blood,  partly  no  doubt 
to  the  long  internal  peace  and  order  secured  by  the  Norman  rule, 
that  the  English  towns  owed  the  wealth  and  importance  to  which 
they  attained  during  the  reign  of  Henry  the  First.  In  the  silent 
growth  and  elevation  of  the  English  people  the  boroughs  led  the 
way  ;  unnoticed  and  despised  by  prelate  and  noble  they  had  alone 
preserved  or  won  back  again  the  full  tradition  of  Teutonic  liberty. 
The  rights  of  self-government,  of  free  speech  in  free  meeting,  of 
equal  justice  by  one's  equals,  were  brought  safely  across  the  ages  of 


II 


ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN   KINGS 


173 


tyranny  by  the  burghers  and  shopkeepers  of  the  towns.     In  the 
quiet,  quaintly-named  streets,  in  town-mead  and  market-place,  in 


SEC.  VI 
THE 

E  NGLISK 

REVIVAL 
1071 

TO 
1127 


BUILDING. 

Eleventh  Century. 

MS.  Harl.  603. 

the  lord's  mill  beside  the  stream,  in  the  bell  that  swung  out  its  sum- 
mons to  the  crowded  borough-mote,  in  merchant-gild  and  church- 
gild  and  craft-gild, 
lay  the  life  of  Eng- 
lishmen who  were 
doing  more  than 
knight  and  baron 
to  make  England 
what  she  is,  the  life 
of  their  home  and 
their  trade,  of  their 
sturdy  battle  with 
oppression,  their 
steady,  ceaseless 
struggle  for  right 
and  freedom.  It  is 

difficult  to  trace  the  steps  by  which  borough  after  borough  won  its 
freedom.  The  bulk  of  them  were  situated  in  the  royal  demesne, 
and,  like  other  tenants,  their  customary  rents  were  collected  and 
justice  administered  by  a  royal  officer.  Amongst  our  towns  London 


GROUP  ROUND  A   TABLE. 

Eleventh  Century. 

MS.  Harl.  603. 


CHAP,  ii          ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS  175 


stood  chief,  and  the  charter  which  Henry  granted  it  became  the      SEC.  vi 
model  for  the  rest.      The  King  yielded  the  citizens  the  right  of       T^ 

ENGLISH 

justice  :  every  townsman  could  claim  to  be  tried  by  his  fellow-  REVI™- 
townsmen  in  the  town-court  or  hustings,  whose  sessions  took  place  ^o* 
every  week.  They  were  subject  only  to  the  old  English  trial  by 
oath,  and  exempt  from  the  trial  by  battle  which  the  Normans  had 
introduced.  Their  trade  was  protected  from  toll  or  exaction  over 
the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land.  The  King  however  still 
nominated  in  London  as  elsewhere  the  portreeve,  or  magistrate  of 
the  town,  nor  were  the  citizens  as  yet  united  together  in  a  com- 
mune or  corporation  ;  but  an  imperfect  civic  organization  existed 
in  the  "  wards  "  or  quarters  of  the  town,  each  governed  by  its  own 
alderman,  and  in  the  "gilds"  or  voluntary  associations  of  mer- 
chants or  traders  which  insured  order  and  mutual  protection  for 
their  members.  Loose  too  as  these  bonds  may  seem,  they  were 
drawn  firmly  together  by  the  older  English  traditions  of  freedom 
which  the  towns  preserved.  In  London,  for  instance,  the  burgesses 
gathered  in  town-mote  when  the  bell  swung  out  from  S.  Paul's 
to  deliberate  freely  on  their  own  afYairs  under  the  presidency  of 
their  alderman.  Here  too  they  mustered  in  arms  if  danger  threat- 
ened the  city,  and  delivered  the  city  banner  to  their  captain,  the 
Norman  baron  Fitz-Walter,  to  lead  them  against  the  enemy.  Few 
boroughs  had  as  yet  attained  to  power  such  as  this,  but  charter 
after  charter  during  Henry's  reign  raised  the  townsmen  of  boroughs 
from  mere  traders,  wholly  at  the  mercy  of  their  lord,  into  cus- 
tomary tenants,  who  had  purchased  their  freedom  by  a  fixed  rent, 
regulated  their  own  trade,  and  enjoyed  exemption  from  all  but 
their  own  justice. 

The  advance  of  towns  which  had  grown  up  not  on  the  royal  s.  El- 
domain  but  around  abbey  or  castle  was  slower  and  more  difficult. 
The  story  of  S.  Edmundsbury  shows  how  gradual  was  the  transi- 
tion from  pure  serfage  to  an  imperfect  freedom.  Much  that  had 
been  plough-land  in  the  time  of  the  Confessor  was  covered  with 
houses  under  the  Norman  rule.  The  building  of  the  great  abbey- 
church  drew  its  craftsmen  and  masons  to  mingle  with  the  plough- 
men and  reapers  of  the  Abbot's  domain.  The  troubles  of  the  time 
helped  here  as  elsewhere  the  progress  of  the  town  ;  serfs,  fugitives 
from  justice  or  their  lord,  the  trader,  the  Jew,  naturally  sought 


176 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SKC.  VI 

THE 

ENGLISH 
REVIVAL 

1071 

TO 
1127 


shelter  under  the  strong  hand  of  S.  Edmund.  But  the  settlers 
were  wholly  at  the  Abbot's  mercy.  Not  a  settler  but  was  bound  to 
pay  his  pence  to  the  Abbot's  treasury,  to  plough  a  rood  of  his 
land,  to  reap  in  his  harvest-field,  to  fold  his  sheep  in  the  Abbey 
folds,  to  help  bring  the  annual  catch  of  eels  from  the  Abbey 


NORMAN    TOWER,    S.    EDMUNDSBURY. 
Built  1067 — 1097. 


waters.  Within  the  four  crosses  that  bounded  the  Abbot's  domain 
land  and  water  were  his  ;  the  cattle  of  the  townsmen  paid  for  their 
pasture  on  the  common  ;  if  the  fullers  refused  the  loan  of  their 
cloth,  the  cellarer  would  refuse  the  use  of  the  stream,  and  seize 
their  cloths  wherever  he  found  them.  No  toll  might  be  levied 
from  tenants  of  the  Abbey  farm,  and  customers  had  to  wait  before 
shop  and  stall  till  the  buyers  of  the  Abbot  had  had  the  pick  of  the 


II 


ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS 


177 


market.  There  was  little  chance  of  redress,  for  if  burghers  com- 
plained in  folkmote,  it  was  before  the  Abbot's  officers  that  its 
meeting  was  held  ;  if  they  appealed  to  the  alderman,  he  was  the 
Abbot's  nominee,  and  received  the  horn,  the  symbol  of  his  office, 
at  the  Abbot's  hands. 

Like  all  the  greater  revolutions  of  society,  the  advance  from 
this  mere  serfage  was  a  silent  one  ;  indeed  its  more  galling  in- 
stances of  oppression  seem  to  have  slipped  unconsciously  away. 
Some,  like  the  eel-fishing,  were  commuted  for  an  easy  rent  ;  others, 


SEC.  VI 

THE 

ENGLISH 
REVIVAL 

1071 

TO 

1127 


ABBOT'S  BRIDGE,  s.  EDMUNDSBURY. 

Early  Thirteenth  Century. 


like  the  slavery  of  the  fullers  and  the  toll  of  flax,  simply  disap- 
peared. By  usage,  by  omission,  by  downright  forgetfulness,  here 
by  a  little  struggle,  there  by  a  present  to  a  needy  abbot,  the  town 
won  freedom.  But  progress  was  not  always  unconscious,  and  one 
incident  in  the  history  of  S.  Edmundsbury  is  remarkable,  not 
merely  as  indicating  the  advance  of  law,  but  yet  more  as  marking 
the  part  which  a  new  moral  sense  of  man's  right  to  equal  justice 
was  to  play  in  the  general  advance  of  the  realm.  Rude  as  the 
borough  was,  it  had  preserved  its  right  of  meeting  in  full  assembly 
of  the  townsmen  for  government  and  law.  Justice  was  administered 
in  presence  of  the  burgesses,  and  the  accused  acquitted  or  con- 
VOL.  I — 12 


I78 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP.   II 


SEC.  VI 

THE 
ENGLISH 
REVIVAL 

1071 

TO 
1127 


MEN  IN   PRISON  AND  IN  STOCKS. 

A.D.    1130-1174. 

MS.   Trin.  Coll.  Camb.  R.  17,  i. 


demned  by  the  oath  of  his  neighbours.  Without  the  borough 
bounds  however  the  system  of  the  Norman  judicature  prevailed  ; 
and  the  rural  tenants  who  did  suit  and  service  at  the  Cellarer's 
court  were  subject  to  the  decision  of  the  trial  by  battle.  The 

execution  of  a  farmer  named 
Ketel,  who  was  subject  to  this 
feudal  jurisdiction,  brought 
the  two  systems  into  vivid 
contrast.  He  seems  to  have 
been  guiltless  of  the  crime 
laid  to  his  charge,  but  the 
duel  went  against  him,  and 
he  was  hanged  just  without 
the  gates.  The  taunts  of  the 
townsmen  woke  his  fellow- 
farmers  to  a  sense  of  wrong. 
"  Had  Ketel  been  a  dweller 
within  the  borough,"  said  the 
burgesses,  "  he  would  have 

got  his  acquittal  from  the  oaths  of  his  neighbours,  as  our  liberty 
is  ; "  and  even  the  monks  were  moved  to  a  decision  that  their 
tenants  should  enjoy  equal  liberty  and  justice  with  the  townsmen. 
The  franchise  of  the  town  was  extended  to  the  rural  possessions 
of  the  Abbey  without  it ;  the  farmers  "  came  to  the  toll-house, 
were  written  in  the  alderman's  roll,  and  paid  the  town  penny." 
The  The  moral  revolution  which  events  like  this  indicate  was  backed 

Revival*5  by  a  religious  revival  which  forms  a  marked  feature  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  the  First.  Pious,  learned,  and  energetic  as  the  bishops  of 
William's  appointment  had  been,  they  were  not  Englishmen.  Till 
the  reign  of  Henry  the  First  no  Englishman  occupied  an  English 
see.  In  language,  in  manner,  in  sympathy,  the  higher  clergy  were 
completely  severed  from  the  lower  priesthood  and  the  people,  and 
the  severance  went  far  to  paralyze  the  constitutional  influence  of 
the  Church.  Anselm  stood  alone  against  Rufus,  and  when  Anselm 
was  gone  no  voice  of  ecclesiastical  freedom  broke  the  silence  of  the 
reign  of  Henry  the  First.  But  at  the  close  of  Henry's  reign  and 
throughout  that  of  Stephen,  England  was  stirred  by  the  first 
of  those  great  religious  movements  which  it  was  afterwards  to 


GUTHLAC   RECEIVING   THE   TONSURE. 


GUTHLAC   SAILING  TO  CROWLAND. 


GUTHLAC    BUILDING    HIS   ORATORY. 


<«THELBALD  VISITING  GUTHLAC. 


SCENES    FROM     LIFE    OF    S.    GUTHLAC. 

Twelfth  Century. 
MS.  Hurl.  Roll.    Y,  vt. 


i8o 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  vi     experience  in  the  preaching  of  the  Friars,  the  Lollardism  of  Wyclif, 


THE 

ENGLISH    • 
REVIVAL 

1071 

TO 
1127 


the  Reformation,  the  Puri- 
tan enthusiasm,  and  the 
mission  work  of  the  Wes- 
leys.  Everywhere  in  town 
and  country  men  banded 
themselves  together  for 
prayer  ;  hermits  flocked 
to  the  woods  ;  noble  and 
churl  welcomed  the  austere 


HOSPITAL    IN    LONDON,    FOUNDED   BY    QUEEN    MATILDA,    C.    IIOI. 

Drawn    by    Matthew    Paris. 

MS.  C.  C.  C.  Camb.  xvi. 

Cistercians,  a  reformed  outshoot  of  the  Benedictine  order,  as  they 
spread  over  the  moors  and  forests  of  the  North.  A  new  spirit 
of  devotion  woke  the  slum- 
ber of  the  religious  houses, 
and  penetrated  alike  to  the 
home  of  the  noble  Walter  de 
1'Espec  at  Rievaulx,  or  of 
the  trader  Gilbert  Beket  in 
Cheapside.  London  took  its 
full  share  in  the  revival.  The 
city  was  proud  of  its  religion, 
its  thirteen  conventual  and 
more  than  a  hundred  parochial 
churches.  The  new  impulse 
changed  its  very  aspect.  In 
the  midst  of  the  city  Bishop 
Richard  busied  himself  with 
the  vast  cathedral  church  of 
S.  Paul  which  Bishop  Maurice 
had  begun  ;  barges  came  up 
the  river  with  stone  from 
Caen  for  the  great  arches  that  SEAL  OF  s.  BARTHOLOMEW'S  PRIORY, 

SMITHFIELD. 

moved   the   popular   wonder,  PMMC  Record  office. 


II 


ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS 


181 


while  street  and  lane  were  being  levelled  to  make  space  for  its 
famous  churchyard.  Rahere,  the  King's  minstrel,  raised  the  Priory 
of  S.  Bartholomew  beside  Smithfield.  Alfune  built  S.  Giles's  at 
Cripplegate.  The  old  English  Cnichtenagild  surrendered  their 
soke  of  Aldgate  as  a  site  for  the  new  priory  of  Holy  Trinity. 
The  tale  of  this  house  paints  admirably  the  temper  of  the  citizens 
at  the  time.  Its  founder,  Prior  Norman,  had  built  church  and 


SEC.  VI 

THE 
ENGLISH 
REVIVAL 

1071 

TO 

1127 


INTERIOR    OF    S.    SEPULCHRE    CHURCH,    CAMBRIDGE. 
Built  c.   1114-1130. 


cloister  and  bought  books  and  vestments  in  so  liberal  a  fashion 
that  at  last  no  money  remained  to  buy  bread.  The  canons  were 
at  their  last  gasp  when  many  of  the  city  folk,  looking  into  the 
refectory  as  they  paced  round  the  cloister  in  their  usual  Sunday 
procession,  saw  the  tables  laid  but  not  a  single  loaf  on  them. 
"Here  is  a  fine  set-out,"  cried  the  citizens,  "but  where  is  the 
bread  to  come  from  ? "  The  women  present  vowed  to  bring  a 
loaf  every  Sunday,  and  there  was  soon  bread  enough  and  to  spare 
for  the  priory  and  its  priests.  We  see  the  strength  of  the  new 
movement  in  the  new  class  of  ecclesiastics  that  it  forced  on  the 


182 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  VI 

THE 

ENGLISH 
RL.VIVAL. 

1071 

TO 
1127 


stage  ;  men  like  Anselm  or  John  of  Salisbury,  or  the  two  great 
prelates  who  followed  one  another  after  Henry's  death  in  the  see 
of  Canterbury,  Theobald  and  Thomas,  drew  whatever  influence 
they  wielded  from  a  belief  in  their  holiness  of  life  and  unselfish- 
ness of  aim.  The  paralysis  of  the  Church  ceased  as  the  new 
impulse  bound  the  prelacy  and  people  together,  and  its  action, 
when  at  the  end  of  Henry's  reign  it  started  into  a  power  strong 


Henry's 
Adminis- 
tration 


1105 


ORGAN.      A.D.   II3O-II74. 

MS.    Trin.   Coll.   Catitb.  R.   17,  i. 


enough    to    save    England    from    anarchy,   has    been    felt    in    our 
history  ever  since. 

From  this  revival  of  English  feeling  Henry  himself  stood  jeal- 
ously aloof ;  but  the  enthusiasm  which  his  marriage  had  excited 
enabled  him  to  defy  the  claims  of  his  brother  and  the  disaffection 
of  his  nobles.  Robert  landed  at  Portsmouth  to  find  himself  face 
to  face  with  an  English  army  which-  Anselm's  summons  had 
gathered  round  the  King  ;  and  his  retreat  left  Henry  free  to  deal 
sternly  with  the  rebel  barons.  Robert  of  Belesme,  the  son  of 
Roger  of  Montgomery,  was  now  their  chief ;  but  60,000  English 
footmen  followed  the  King  through  the  rough  passes  which  led  to 
Shrewsbury,  and  an  early  surrender  alone  saved  Robert's  life. 
Master  of  his  own  realm  and  enriched  by  the  confiscated  lands  of 


ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS  183 


the  revolted  baronage,  Henry  crossed  into  Normandy,  where  the  SEC.VI 
misgovernment  of  Robert  had  alienated  the  clergy  and  trades,  and  T^ 
where  the  outrages  of  the  Norman  nobles  forced  the  more  peaceful  REV!"™" 
classes  to  call  the  King  to  their  aid.  On  the  field  of  Tenchebray 
his  forces  met  those  of  the  Duke,  and  a  decisive  English  victory  on 
Norman  soil  avenged  the  shame  of  Hastings.  The  conquered 
duchy  became  a  dependency  of  the  English  crown,  and  Henry's 
energies  were  frittered  away  through  a  quarter  of  a  century  in 
crushing  its  revolts,  the  hostility  of  the  French,  and  the  efforts  of 
his  nephew,  William  the  son  of  Robert,  to  regain  the  crown  which 
Nhis  father  had  lost  at  Tenchebray.  In  England,  however,  all  was 
peace.  The  vigorous  administration  of  Henry  the  First  completed 
in  fullest  detail  the  system  of  government  which  the  Conqueror 
had  sketched.  The  vast  estates  which  had  fallen  to  the  crown 
through  revolt  and  forfeiture  were  granted  out  to  new  men  de- 
pendent on  royal  favour.  On  the  ruins  of  the  great  feudatories 
whom  he  had  crushed  the  King  built  up  a  class  of  lesser  nobles, 
whom  the  older  barons  of  the  Conquest  looked  down  on  in  scorn, 
but  who  formed  a  counterbalancing  force  and  furnished  a  class  of 
useful  administrators  whom  Henry  employed  as  his  sheriffs  and 
judges.  A  new  organization  of  justice  and  finance  bound  the 
kingdom  together  under  the  royal  administration.  The  clerks  of 
the  Royal  Chapel  were  formed  into  a  body  of  secretaries  or  royal 
ministers,  whose  head  bore  the  title  of  Chancellor.  Above  them 
stood  the  Justiciar,  or  lieutenant-general  of  the  kingdom,  who  in 
the  frequent  absence  of  the  King  acted  as  Regent,  and  whose 
staff,  selected  from  the  barons  connected  with  the  royal  household, 
were  formed  into  a  Supreme  Court  of  the  realm.  The  King's 
Court,  as  this  was  called,  permanently  represented  the  whole  court 
of  royal  vassals,  which  had  hitherto  been  summoned  thrice  in  the 
year.  As  the  royal  council,  it  revised  and  registered  laws,  and  its 
"  counsel  and  consent,"  though  merely  formal,  preserved  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  older  popular  legislation.  As  a  court  of  justice  it 
formed  the  highest  court  of  appeal ;  it  could  call  up  any  suit  from 
a  lower  tribunal  on  the  application  of  a  suitor,  while  the  union  of 
several  sheriffdoms  under  some  of  its  members  connected  it  closely 
with  the  local  courts.  As  a  financial  body,  its  chief  work  lay  in 
the  assessment  and  collection  of  the  revenue.  In  this  capacity  it 


1 84 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  VI 

THE 

ENGLISH 
REVIVAL 

1071 

TO 
1127 


took  the  name  of  the  Court  of  Exchequer  from  the  chequered  table, 
much  like  a  chess-board,  at  which  it  sat,  and  on  which  accounts 
were  rendered.  In  their  financial  capacity  its  justices  became 
"  barons  of  the  Exchequer."  Twice  every  year  the  sheriff  of  each 
county  appeared  before  these  barons  and  rendered  the  sum  of  the 
fixed  rent  from  royal  domains,  the  Danegeld  or  land  tax,  the  fines 


The 

White 

Ship 


OFFICERS    RECEIVING    AND    WEIGHING    COIN    AT    THE    EXCHEQUER. 

A.D.     1130    1174. 
MS.  Trin.  Coll.  Camb.  R.  17,  i. 

of  the  local  courts,  the  feudal  aids  from  the  baronial  estates,  which 
formed  the  chief  part  of  the  royal  revenue.  Local  disputes  respect- 
ing these  payments  or  the  assessment  of  the  town-rents  were  settled 
by  a  detachment  of  barons  from  the  court  who  made  the  circuit  of 
the  shires,  and  whose  fiscal  visitations  led  to  the  judicial  visitations, 
the  "  judges'  circuits,"  which  still  form  so  marked  a  feature  in  our 
legal  system. 

From  this  work  of  internal  reform  Henry's  attention  was  called 
suddenly  by  one  terrible  loss  to  the  question  of  the  succession  to 
the  throne.  His  son  William  "  the  ^Etheling,"  as  the  English 
fondly  styled  the  child  of  their  own  Matilda,  had  with  a  crowd  of 
nobles  accompanied  the  King  on  his  return  from  Normandy  ;  but 
the  White  Ship  in  which  he  had  embarked  lingered  behind  the  rest 
of  the  royal  fleet  while  the  young  nobles,  excited  with  wine,  hung 
over  the  ship's  side  and  chased  away  with  taunts  the  priest  who 
came  to  give  the  customary  benediction.  At  last  the  guards  of 


ii  ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS  185 

the  King's  treasure  pressed  the  vessel's  departure,  and,  driven  by      SEC.  vi 
the  arms  of  fifty  rowers,  it  swept  swiftly  out  to  sea.     All  at  once     ,,  THE 

»  *  ENGLISH 

the  ship's  side  struck  on  a  rock  at  the  mouth  of  the  harbour,  and     REVIVAL 

1071 

in  an  instant  it  sank  beneath  the  waves.     One  terrible  cry,  ringing         T0 

1127 
through  the  stillness  of  the  night,  was  heard  by  the  royal  fleet  ; 

Wreck  of 

but  it  was  not  till  the  morning  that  the  fatal  news  reached  the    the  White 

*      ' 

King.  He  fell  unconscious  to  the  ground,  and  rose  never  to  smile 
again.  Henry  had  no  other  son,  and  the  whole  circle  of  his  foreign 
foes  closed  round  him  the  more  fiercely  that  the  son  of  Robert 
was  now  his  natural  heir.  The  King  hated  William,  while  he  loved 
Matilda,  the  daughter  who  still  remained  to  him,  who  had  been 
married  to  the  Emperor  Henry  the  Fifth,  and  whose  husband's 
death  now  restored  her  to  her  father.  He  recognized  her  as  his 
heir,  though  the  succession  of  a  woman  seemed  strange  to  the 
feudal  baronage  ;  nobles  and  priests  were  forced  to  swear  allegi- 
ance to  her  as  their  future  mistress,  and  Henry  affianced  her  to 
the  son  of  the  one  foe  he  really  feared,  Count  Fulk  of  Anjou. 


Section  VII. — England  and  Anjou,  870—1154 

[Authorities. — The  chief  documents  for  Angevin  history  have  been  collected 
in  the  "  Chroniques  d'Anjou,"  published  by  the  Historical  Society  of  France 
(Paris,  1856-1871).  The  best  known  of  these  is  the  "  Gesta  Consulum,"  a 
compilation  of  the  twelfth  century  (given  also  by  D'Achery,  "  Spicilegium,"  4to. 
vol.  x.  p.  534),  in  which  the  earlier  romantic  traditions  are  simply  dressed  up 
into  historical  shape  by  copious  quotations  from  the  French  historians.  Save 
for  the  reigns  of  Geoffry  Mattel,  and  Fulk  of  Jerusalem,  it  is  nearly  valueless. 
The  short  autobiography  of  Fulk  Rechin  is  the  most  authentic  memorial  of  the 
earlier  Angevin  history  ;  and  much  can  be  gleaned  from  the  verbose  life  of 
Geoffry  the  Handsome  by  John  of  Marmoutier.  For  England,  Orderic  and 
the  Chronicle  die  out  in  the  midst  of  Stephen's  reign  ;  here,  too,  end  William 
of  Malmesbury,  Huntingdon,  the  "  Gesta  Stephani,"  a  record  in  great  detail  by 
one  of  Stephen's  clerks,  and  the  Hexham  Chroniclers,  who  are  most  valuable 
for  its  opening  (published  by  Mr.  Raine  for  the  Surtees  Society).  The  blank 
in  our  historical  literature  extends  over  the  first  years  of  Henry  the  Second. 
The  lives  and  letters  of  Beket  have  been  industriously  collected  and  published 
by  Canon  Robertson  in  the  Rolls  Series.] 

To  understand  the  history  of  England  under  its  Angevin  rulers,       The 
we  must  first  know  something  of  the  Angevins  themselves.     The  Of  Anjou 
character  and  the  policy  of  Henry  the  Second  and  his  sons  were 


i86  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE          CHAP,  n 

% 

SEC.  vii     as  much  a  heritage  of  their  race  as  the  broad  lands  of  Anjou.     The 
ENGLAND     fortunes    of   England    were    being    slowly  wrought    out   in   every 

ANJOU       incident  of  the  history  of  the   Counts,  as  the  descendants  of  a 
870 

TO         Breton  woodman  became  masters  not  of  Anjou  only,  but  of  Tour- 
1154 

aine,  Maine,  and  Poitou,  of  Gascony  and  Auvergne,  of  Aquitaine 
and  Normandy,  and  sovereigns  at  last  of  the  great  realm  which 
Normandy  had  won.  The  legend  of  the  father  of  their  race 
carries  us  back  to  the  times  of  our  own  yElfred,  when  the  Danes 
were  ravaging  along  Loire  as  they  ravaged  along  Thames.  In 
the  heart  of  the  Breton  border,  in  the  debateable  land  between 
France  and  Britanny,  dwelt  Tortulf  the  Forester,  half-brigand, 
half-hunter  as  the  gloomy  days  went,  living  in  free,  outlaw-fashion 
in  the  woods  about  Rennes.  Tortulf  had  learned  in  his  rough 
forest  school  "  how  to  strike  the  foe,  to  sleep  on  the  bare  ground, 
to  bear  hunger  and  toil,  summer's  heat  and  winter's  frost,  how  to 
fear  nothing  save  ill-fame."  Following  King  Charles  the  Bald  in 
his  struggle  with  the  Danes,  the  woodman  won  broad  lands  along 
Loire,  and  his  son  Ingelger,  who  had  swept  the  northmen  from 
Touraine  and  the  land  to  the  west,  which  they  had  burned  and 
wasted  into  a  vast  solitude,  became  the  first  Count  of  Anjou. 
But  the  tale  of  Tortulf  and  Ingelger  is  a  mere  creation  of  some 
twelfth  century  jongleur,  and  the  earliest  Count  whom  history 
recognizes  is  Fulk  the  Red.  Fulk  attached  himself  to  the  Dukes  of 
France  who  were  now  drawing  nearer  to  the  throne,  and  received 
from  them  in  guerdon  the  county  of  Anjou.  The  story  of  his  son  is 
a  story  of  peace,  breaking  like  a  quiet  idyll  the  war-storms  of  his 
house.  Alone  of  his  race  Fulk  the  Good  waged  no  wars  :  his 
delight  was  to  sit  in  the  choir  of  Tours  and  to  be  called  "  Canon." 
One  Martinmas  eve  Fulk  was  singing  there  in  clerkly  guise  when 
the  king,  Lewis  d'Outremer,  entered  the  church.  "  He  sings  like 
a  priest,"  laughed  the  King,  as  his  nobles  pointed  mockingly  to  the 
figure  of  the  Count-Canon  ;  but  Fulk  was  ready  with  his  reply. 
"  Know,  my  lord,"  wrote  the  Count  of  Anjou,  "  that  a  king  un- 
learned is  a  crowned  ass."  Fulk  was  in  fact  no  priest,  but  a  busy 
ruler,  governing,  enforcing  peace,  and  carrying  justice  to  every 
corner  of  the  wasted  land.  To  him  alone  of  his  race  men  gave  the 
title  of  "  the  Good." 

Himself  in  character  little  more  than  a  bold  dashing  soldier, 


1 88  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE          CHAP,  n 

SEC.  vii     Fulk's  son,  GeofFry  Grey-gown,  sank  almost  into  a  vassal  of  his 
£NANDND     Powernjl  neighbours,  the  Counts  of  Blois  and  Champagne.     The 

ANJOU       vassalage  was  roughly  shaken  off  by  his  successor.     Fulk  Nerra, 
070 

TO         Fulk  the  Black,  is  the  greatest  of  the  Angevins,  the  first  in  whom 
^  ^  54 

we  can  trace  that  marked  type  of  character  which  their  house  was 
Fulk  the 
Black      to  preserve  with  a  fatal  constancy  through  two  hundred  years.    He 

9  7-1040  was  wjtjlout  natural  affection.  In  his  youth  he  burnt  a  wife  at  the 
stake,  and  legend  told  how  he  led  her  to  her  doom  decked  out  in 
his  gayest  attire.  In  his  old  age  he  waged  his  bitterest  war  against 
his  son,  and  exacted  from  him  when  vanquished  a  humiliation 
which  men  reserved  for  the  deadliest  of  their  foes.  "  You  are 
conquered,  you  are  conquered  ! "  shouted  the  old  man  in  fierce 
exultation,  as  Geoffry,  bridled  and  saddled  like  a  beast  of  burden, 
crawled  for  pardon  to  his  father's  feet.  In  Fulk  first  appeared-the 
low  type  of  superstition  which  startled  even  superstitious  ages  in 
the  early  Plantagenets.  Robber  as  he  was  of  Church  lands,  and 
contemptuous  of  ecclesiastical  censures,  the  fear  of  the  judgment 
drove  Fulk  to  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  Barefoot  and  with  the  strokes 
of  the  scourge  falling  heavily  on  his  shoulders,  the  Count  had 
himself  dragged  by  a  halter  through  the  streets  of  Jerusalem,  and 
courted  the  doom  of  martyrdom  by  his  wild  outcries  of  penitence. 
He  rewarded  the  fidelity  of  Herbert  of  Le  Mans,  whose  aid  saved 
him  from  utter  ruin,  by  entrapping  him  into  captivity  and  robbing 
him  of  his  lands.  He  secured  the  terrified  friendship  of  the 
French  king  by  despatching  twelve  assassins  to  cut  down  before 
his  eyes  the  minister  who  had  troubled  it.  Familiar  as  the  age 
was  with  treason  and  rapine  and  blood,  it  recoiled  from  the  cool 
cynicism  of  his  crimes,  and  believed  the  wrath  of  Heaven  to  have 
been  revealed  against  the  union  of  the  worst  forms  of  evil  in  Fulk 
the  Black.  But  neither  the  wrath  of  Heaven  nor  the  curses  of 
men  broke  with  a  single  mishap  the  fifty  years  of  his  success. 
The  At  his  accession  Anjou  was  the  least  important  of  the  greater 

ofCAnjouS  Provmces  of  France.  At  his  death  in  1040  it  stood,  if  not  in 
extent,  at  least  in  real  power,  first  among  them  all.  Cool-headed, 
clear-sighted,  quick  to  resolve,  quicker  to  strike,  Fulk's  career  was 
one  long  series  of  victories  over  all  his  rivals.  He  was  a  consum- 
mate general,  and  he  had  the  gift  of  personal  bravery,  which  was 
denied  to  some  of  his  greatest  descendants.  There  was  a  moment 


1 9o  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  vii     in  ths  first  of  his  battles  when  the  day  seemed  lost  for  Anjou  ;  a 
ENGLAND     feigned  retreat  of  the  Bretons  had  drawn  the  An^svin  horsemen 

AND  S  ° 

ANJOU       int0  a  iine  Of  hidden   pitfalls,  and  the   Count  himself  was  flung 
870 

TO         heavily  to  the  ground.      Dragged  from  the  msdley  of  men   and 
ii  54 

horses,  he  swept  down  almost  singly  on  the  foe  "  as  a  storm-wind  " 

(so  rang  the  paean  of  the  Angevins)  "  sweeps  down  on  the  thick 
corn-rows,"  and  the  field  was  won.  To  these  qualities  of  the 
warrior  he  added  a  power  of  political  organization,  a  capacity  for 
far-reaching  combinations,  a  faculty  of  statesmanship,  which  be- 
came the  heritage  of  the  Angevins,  and  lifted  them  as  high  above 

* 

the  intellectual  level  of  the  rulers  of  their  time  as  their  shameless 

995        wickedness  degraded  them  below  the  level  of  man.     His  overthrow 

of  Britanny  on  the  field  of  Conquereux  was  followed  by  the  gradual 

absorption  of  Southern  Touraine,  while  his  restless  activity  covered 

H.V" 

the  land  with  castles  and  abbeys.  The  very  spirit  of  the  Black 
Count  seems  still  to  frown  from  the  dark  tower  of  Durtal  on  the 
1016  sunny  valley  of  the  Loir.  A  victory  at  Pontlevoi  •  crushed  the 
rival  house  of  Blois  ;  the  seizure  of  Saumur  completed  his  conquests 
in  the  south,  while  Northern  Touraine  was  won  bit  by  bit  till  only 
Tours  resisted  the  Angevin.  The  treacherous  seizure  of  its  Count, 
Herbert  Wake-dog,  left  Maine  at  his  mercy  ere  the  old  man  be- 
queathed his  unfinished  work  to  his  son.  As  a  warrior  GeofTry 

1044-1060  Martel  was  hardly  inferior  to  his  father.  A  decisive  victory  left 
Poitou  at  his  mercy,  a  second  wrested  Tours  from  the  Count  of 
Blois  ;  and  the  seizure  of  Le  Mans  brought  him  to  the  Norman 
border.  Here  however  his  advance  was  checked  by  the  genius  of 
William  the  Conqueror,  and  with  his  death  the  greatness  of  Anjou 
seemed  for  the  time  to  have  come  to  an  end. 
The  Stripped  of  Maine  by  the  Normans  and  weakened  by  internal 

Marriage  dissensions,  the  weak  administration  of  the  next  count,  Fulk  Rechin, 
left  Anjou  powerless  against  its  rivals.  It  woke  to  fresh  energy 

1109-1129  with  the  accession  of  his  son,  Fulk  of  Jerusalem.  Now  urging  the 
turbulent  Norman  nobles  to  revolt,  now  supporting  Robert's  son 
William  against  his  uncle,  offering 'himself  throughout  as  the  loyal 
supporter  of  France,  which  was  now  hemmed  in  on  all  sides  by  the 
forces  of  the  English  king  and  of  his  allies  the  Counts  of  Blois 
and  Champagne,  Fulk  was  the  one  enemy  whom  Henry  the  First 
really  feared.  It  was  to  disarm  his  restless  hostility  that  the  King 


ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS 


191 


SEC.  VII 
ENGLAND 

AND 

ANJOU 
870 

TO 

"54 


EFFIGY    OF    GEOFFRY    PLANTAGENET,     FROM     HIS    TOMB    AT    LE    MANS. 


gave  to  his  son,  Geoffry  the  Handsome,  the  hand  of  his  daughter 
Matilda.     No  marriage  could  have  been  more  unpopular,  and  the 


i92  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  vii  secrecy  with  which  it  was  effected  was  held  by  the  barons  as  freeing 
them  from  the  oath  which  they  had  sworn  ;  for  no  baron,  if  he  was 
without  sons,  could  give  a  husband  to  his  daughter  save  by  his 
lord's  consent,  and  by  a  strained  analogy  the  nobles  contended  that 
their  own  assent  was  necessary  to  the  marriage  of  Matilda.  A 
more  pressing  danger  lay  in  the  greed  of  her  husband  Geoffry,  who 
from  his  habit  of  wearing  the  common  broom  of  Anjou  (\h&  planta 
genista)  in  his  helmet  had  acquired,  in  addition  to  his  surname  of 
"  the  Handsome,"  the  more  famous  title  of  "  Plantagenet."  His 
claims  ended  at  last  in  intrigues  with  the  Norman  nobles,  and 
Henry  hurried  to  the  border  to  meet  an  expected  invasion  ;  but 
Death  of  fa^  pjot  broke  down  at  his  presence,  the  Angevins  retired,  and  the 

1135       old  man  withdrew  to  the  forest  of  Lions  to  die. 

Stephen  "  God  give  him,"  wrote  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen  from  Henry's 
death-bed,  "  the  peace  he  loved."  With  him  indeed  closed  the  long 
peace  of  the  Norman  rule.  An  outburst  of  anarchy  followed  on 
the  news  of  his  departure,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  turmoil  Earl 
Stephen,  his  nephew,  appeared  at  the  gates  of  London.  Stephen 
was  a  son  of  the  Conqueror's  daughter,  Adela,  who  had  married  a 
Count  of  Blois  ;  he  had  been  brought  up  at  the  English  court,  and 
his  claim  as  nearest  male  heir,  save  his  brother,  of  the  Conqueror's 
blood  (for  his  cousin,  the  son  of  Robert,  had  fallen  in  Flanders) 
was  supported  by  his  personal  popularity.  Mere  swordsman  as  he 
was,  his  good-humour,  his  generosity,  his  very  prodigality  made 
him  a  favourite  with  all.  No  noble  however  had  as  yet  ventured 
to  join  him,  nor  had  any  town  opened  its  gates  when  London 
poured  out  to  meet  him  with  uproarious  welcome.  Neither  barons 
nor  prelates  were  present  to  constitute  a  National  Council,  but  the 
great  city  did  not  hesitate  to  take  their  place.  The  voice  of  her 
citizens  had  long  been  accepted  as  representative  of  the  popular 
assent  in  the  election  of  a  king  ;  but  it  marks  the  progress  of  English 
independence  under  Henry  that  London  now  claimed  of  itself  the 
right  of  election.  Undismayed  by  the  absence  of  the  hereditary 
counsellors  of  the  crown,  its  "  Aldermen  and  wise  folk  gathered 
together  the  folkmoot,  and  these  providing  at  their  own  will  for  the 
good  of  the  realm,  unanimously  resolved  to  choose  a  king."  The 
solemn  deliberation  ended  in  the  choice  of  Stephen  ;  the  citizens 
swore  to  defend  the  King  with  money  and  blood,  Stephen  swore  to 


II 


ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS 


SEC.  VII 

ENGLAND 
AND 

ANJOU 

870 

TO 

"54 


apply  his  whole  strength  to  the  pacification  and  good  government 

of  the  realm. 

If  London  was  true  to  her  oath,  Stephen  was  false  to  his.     The 

nineteen  years  of  his  reign  are  years  of  a  misrule  and  disorder  un- 
known in  our  history.  Stephen 
u  j  u  i  i  Stephen 

nad  been  acknowledged  even  by    and  the 

the  partizans  of  Matilda,  but  his  baronaee 
weakness  and  prodigality  soon 
gave  room  to  feudal  revolt.  In 
1138  a  rising  of  the  barons, 
planned  by  Earl  Robert  of 
Gloucester,  in  southern  and 
western  England  was  aided  by 
the  King  of  Scots,  who  poured 
his  forces  over  the  northern  bor- 
der. Stephen  himself  marched 
on  the  western  rebels,  and  left 
them  few  strongholds  save  Bris- 
tol. The  pillage  and  cruelties 
of  the  wild  tribes  of  Galloway 
and  the  Highlands  roused  the 
spirit  of  the  north  ;  baron  and 
freeman  gathered  at  York 
round  Archbishop  Thurstan,  and 
marched  to  the  field  of  North- 
allerton  to  await  the  foe.  The 
sacred  banners  of  S.  Cuthbert 
of  Durham,  S.  Peter  of  York, 
S.  John  of  Beverley,  and  S.  Wil- 
frid of  Ripon  hung  from  a  pole 
fixed  in  a  four-wheeled  car 
which  stood  in  the  centre  of 
the  host.  "  I  who  wear  no 

armour,"  shouted  the  chief  of  the  Galwegians,  "will  go  as  far 
this  day  as  any  one  with  breastplate  of  mail  ; "  his  men  charged 
with  wild  shouts  of  "  Albin,  Albin,"  and  were  followed  by  the 
Norman  knighthood  of  the  Lowlands.  The  rout,  however,  was 
complete  ;  the  fierce  hordes  dashed  in  vain  against  the  close 
VOL.  I — 13 


THE    STANDARD,      1138. 

MS.  Arundel  150. 
Early  Thirteenth  Century. 


Battle 

of  the 

Standard 

1138 


194 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  VII 

ENGLAND 
AND 

ANJOU 

870 

TO 

"54 


"39 


1141 


English   ranks  around  the  Standard,  and  the  whole  army  fled  in 
confusion  to  Carlisle. 

But  Stephen  had  few  kingly  qualities  save  that  of  a  soldier's 
bravery,  and  the  realm  soon  began  to  slip  from  his  grasp.  Released 
from  the  stern  hand  of  Henry,  the  barons  fortified  their  castles,  and 
their  example  was  necessarily  followed,  in  self-defence,  by  the 
great  prelates  and  nobles  who  had  acted  as  ministers  to  the  late 
King.  Roger,  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  the  justiciar,  and  his  son  Roger 
the  Chancellor,  were  carried  away  by  the  panic.  They  fortified 
their  castles,  and  appeared  at  court  followed  by  a  strong  force  at 
their  back.  The  weak  violence  of  the  king's  temper  suddenly 
broke  out.  He  seized  Roger  with  his  son  the  Chancellor  and  his 
nephew  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  at  Oxford,  and  forced  them  to 
surrender  their  strongholds.  Shame  broke  the  justiciar's  heart  ;  he 
died  at  the  close  of  the  year,  and  his  nephew  Nigel  of  Ely,  the 
Treasurer,  was  driven  from  the  realm.  The  fall  of  Roger's  house 
shattered  the  whole  system  of  government.  The  King's  violence, 
while  it  cost  him  the  support  of  the  clergy,  opened  the  way  for 
Matilda's  landing  in 
England  ;  and  the 
country  was  soon  di- 
vided between  the  ad- 
herents of  the  two 
rivals,  the  West  sup- 
porting Matilda,  Lon- 
don and  the  East 
Stephen.  A  defeat  at 
Lincoln  left  the  latter 
a  captive  in  the  hands 
of  his  enemies,  while 
Matilda  was  received 
throughout  the  land 
as  its  "  Lady."  But 
the  disdain  with  which 
she  repulsed  the  claim 

of   London  to  the   enjoyment  of  its   older   privileges   called    its 
burghers    to  arms,  and  her  resolve  to   hold    Stephen    a   prisoner 

o 

roused    his    party   again    to    life.      Flying    to    Oxford,   she    was 


GREAT    SEAL    OF    EMPRESS    MATILDA. 


ii  ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS  195 

besieged   there    by  Stephen,  who    had   obtained    his   release  ;    but     SEC.  vn 
she  escaped   in  white  robes  by  a  postern,  and   crossing  the  river     ENGLAND 

AND 

unobserved  on  the  ice,  made  her  way  to  Abingdon.  Six  years  ANJ°U 
later  she  returned  to  Normandy.  The  war  had  in  fact  become  a  TO 
mere  chaos  of  pillage  and  bloodshed.  The  outrages  of  the  feudal 
baronage  showed  from  what  horrors  the  rule  of  the  Norman  kings 
had  saved  England.  No  more  ghastly  picture  of  a  nation's  misery 
has  ever  been  painted  than  that  which  closes  the  English  Chronicle, 
whose  last  accents  falter  out  amidst  the  horrors  of  the  time. 
"  They  hanged  up  men  by  their  feet  and  smoked  them  with  foul 
smoke.  Some  were  hanged  up  by  their  thumbs,  others  by  the 
head,  and  burning  things  were  hung  on  to  their  feet.  They  put 
knotted  strings  about  men's  heads  and  writhed  them  till  they  went 
into  the  brain.  They  put  men  into  prisons  where  adders  and 
snakes  and  toads  were  crawling,  and  so  they  tormented  them. 
Some  they  put  into  a  chest  short  and  narrow  and  not  deep,  and 
that  had  sharp  stones  within,  and  forced  men  therein  so  that  they 
broke  all  their  limbs.  In  many  of  the  castles  were  hateful 
and  grim  things  called  rachenteges,  which  two  or  three  men  had 
enough  to  do  to  carry.  It  was  thus  made  :  it  was  fastened  to 
a  beam  and  had  a  sharp  iron  to  go  about  a  man's  neck  and 
throat,  so  that  he  might  noways  sit,  or  lie,  or  sleep,  but  he  bore 
all  the  iron.  Many  thousands  they  starved  with  hunger." 

England  was  rescued  from  this  feudal  anarchy  by  the  efforts  of  England 
the  Church.     In  the  early  part  of  Stephen's  reign  his  brother  Henry,     church 
the  Bishop  of  Winchester,  acting  as  Papal  Legate  for  the  realm,  had 
striven  to  supply  the  absence  of  any  royal  or  national  authority 
by  convening  synods  of  bishops,  and  by  asserting  the  moral  right 
of  the  Church  to  declare  sovereigns  unworthy  of  the  throne.     The 
compact  between  king  and  people  which  became  a  part  of  constitu 
tional  law  in  the  Charter  of  Henry  had  gathered  new  force  in  the 
Charter   of  Stephen,   but   its    legitimate   consequence   in  the  re- 
sponsibility of  the  crown  for  the  execution  of  the  compact  was  first 
drawn  out  by  these  ecclesiastical  councils.     From  their  alternate 
depositions  of  Stephen  and  Matilda  flowed  the  after  depositions  of 
Edward  and  Richard,  and  the  solemn  act  by  which  the  succession 
was  changed  in  the  case  of  James.     Extravagant  and  unauthorized 
as  their  expression  of  it  may  appear,  they  expressed  the  right  of  a 


196 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


ANJOU 
870 

TO 
1154 


SEC.  vii     nation  to  good  government.     Henry  of  Winchester,  however,  "half 
ENGLAND    monk,  half  soldier,"  as  he  was  called,  possessed  too  little  religious 

influence  to  wield  a  really  spiritual  power ;   it  was  only  at  the  close 

of  Stephen's  reign  that  the  nation  really  found  a  moral  leader  in 

Theobald,    the    Archbishop    of 

Canterbury.     "  To  the  Church," 

Thomas  justly  said  afterwards, 

with  the  proud  consciousness  of 

having    been    Theobald's    right 

hand,   "  Henry  owed  his  crown 

and  England   her   deliverance." 

Thomas  was  the  son  of  Gilbert 

Beket,  the  portreeve  of  London, 

the  site  of  whose  house  is  still 

marked  by  the  Mercers'  chapel  in 

Cheapside.     His  mother  Rohese 

was  a  type  of  the  devout  woman 
Thomas  of  of  her   day;    she   weighed    her 

London 

boy  each  year  on  his  birthday 
against  money,  clothes,  and  pro- 
visions which  she  gave  to  the 
poor.  Thomas  grew  up  amidst 
the  Norman  barons  and  clerks 
who  frequented  his  father's  house 
with  a  genial  freedom  of  charac- 
ter tempered  by  the  Norman  re- 
finement ;  he  passed  from  the 

school  of  Merton  to  the  University  of  Paris,  and  returned  to  fling 
himself  into  the  life  of  the  young  nobles  of  the  time.  Tall,  hand- 
some, bright-eyed,  ready  of  wit  and  speech,  his  firmness  of  temper 
showed  itself  in  his  very  sports  ;  to  rescue  his  hawk  which  had 
fallen  into  the  water  he  once  plunged  into  a  millrace,  and  was  all 
but  crushed  by  the  wheel.  The  loss  of  his  father's  wealth  drove 
him  to  the  court  of  Archbishop  Theobald,  and  he  soon  became  the 
Primate's  confidant  in  his  plans  for  the  rescue  of  England.  Henry, 
the  son  of  Matilda  and  Geoffry,  had  now  by  the  death  of  his  father 
become  master  of  Normandy  and  Anjou,  while  by  his  marriage 
1152  with  its  duchess,  Eleanor  of  Poitou,  he  had  added  Aquitaine  to 


SEAL    OF    BISHOP     HENRY    OF 
WINCHESTER. 

Journal  of  A  rchaologicdl  Association. 


ii                    ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS  197 

his  dominions.     Thomas,  as  Theobald's  agent,  invited  Henry  to  SEC.  vm 

appear  in   England,  and  on  the  Duke's  landing  the  Archbishop  HENRY  THB 

r  SECOND 

interposed  between  the  rival  claimants  to  the  crown.     The  Treaty  1154 

of  Wallingford  abolished  the  evils  of  the  long  anarchy  ;  the  castles  1189 

were  to  be  razed,  the  crown  lands  resumed,  the  foreign  mercenaries  1153 
banished  from  the  country.     Stephen  was  recognized  as  King,  and 
in  turn  acknowledged  Henry  as  his  heir.     But  a  year  had  hardly 
passed  when  Stephen's  death  gave  his  rival  the  crown. 


Section  VIII. — Henry  the  Second,  1154 — 1189 

[Authorities. — Up  to  the  death  of  Archbishop  Thomas  we  have  only  the 
letters  of  Beket  himself,  Foliot,  and  John  of  Salisbury,  collected  by  Canon 
Robertson  and  Dr.  Giles  ;  but  this  dearth  is  followed  by  a  vast  outburst  of 
historical  industry.  From  1169  till  1192  our  primary  authority  is  the  Chronicle 
known  as  that  of  Benedict  of  Peterborough,  whose  authorship  Dr.  Stubbs  has 
shown  to  be  more  probably  due  to  the  royal  treasurer,  Bishop  Richard  Fitz-Neal. 
It  is  continued  to  1201  by  Roger  of  Howden.  Both  are  works  of  the  highest 
value,  and  have  been  edited  for  the  Rolls  series  by  Dr.  Stubbs,  whose  prefaces 
have  thrown  a  new  light  on  the  constitutional  history  of  Henry's  reign.  The 
history  by  William  of  Newburgh  (which  ends  in  1198)  is  a  work  of  the  classical 
school,  like  William  of  Malmesbury,  but  distinguished  by  its  fairness  and  good 
sense.  To  these  may  be  added  the  chronicles  of  Ralf  Niger,  with  the  additions 
of  Ralf  of  Coggeshall,  that  of  Gervase  of  Canterbury,  and  the  Life  of  S.  Hugh  of 
Lincoln.  A  mass  of  general  literature  lies  behind  these  distinctively  historical 
sources,  in  the  treatises  of  John  of  Salisbury,  the  voluminous  works  of  Giraldus 
Cambrensis,  the  "  trifles  "  and  satires  of  Walter  Map,  Glanvill's  treatise  on  Law, 
Fitz-NeaFs  "  Dialogue  on  the  Exchequer,"  the  romances  of  Gaimar  and  Wace, 
the  poem  of  the  San  Graal.  Lord  Lyttelton's  "  Life  of  Henry  the  Second  "  is  a 
full  and  sober  account  of  the  time  ;  Canon  Robertson's  Biography  of  Beket  is 
accurate,  but  hostile  in  tone.  In  his  "  Select  Charters"  Dr.  Stubbs  has  printed 
the  various  "Assizes,"  and  the  Dialogus  de  Scaccario,  which  explains  the 
financial  administration  of  the  Curia  Regis.] 

Young  as  he  was,  Henry  mounted  the  throne  with  a  resolute 
purpose  of  government  which  his  reign  carried  steadily  out.  His 
practical,  serviceable  frame  suited  the  hardest  worker  of  his  time. 
There  was  something  in  his  build  and  look,  in  the  square,  stout 
frame,  the  fiery  face,  the  close-cropped  hair,  the  prominent  eyes, 
the  bull  neck,  the  coarse  strong  hands,  the  bowed  legs,  that  marked 
out  the  keen,  stirring,  coarse-fibred  man  of  business.  "  He  never 
sits  down,"  said  one  who  observed  him  closely  ;  "  he  is  always  on 


198  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  vni    his  legs  from  morning  till  night."     Orderly  in  business,  careless  in 

HENRY  THE  appearance,  sparing  in  diet,  never  resting    or  giving  his   servants 

1154       rest,  chatty,  inquisitive,  endowed  with  a  singular  charm  of  address 

TO 

1189  and  strength  of  memory,  obstinate  in  love  or  hatred,  a  fair  scholar, 
a  great  hunter,  his  general  air  that  of  a  rough,  passionate,  busy 
man,  Henry's  personal  character  told  directly  on  the  character 
of  his  reign.  His  accession  marks  the  period  of  amalgamation, 
when  neighbourhood  and  traffic  and  intermarriage  drew  English- 
men and  Normans  rapidly  into  a  single  people.  A  national  feeling 
was  thus  springing  up  before  which  the  barriers  of  'the  older 
feudalism  were  to  be  swept  away.  Henry  had  even  less  reverence 
for  the  feudal  past  than  the  men  of  his  day  ;  he  was  indeed  utterly 
without  the  imagination  and  reverence  which  enable  men  to 
sympathize  with  any  past  at  all.  He  had  a  practical  man's  impa- 
tience of  the  obstacles  thrown  in  the  way  of  his  reforms  by  the 
older  constitution  of  the  realm,  nor  could  he  understand  other 
men's  reluctance  to  purchase  undoubted  improvements  by  the 
sacrifice  of  customs  and  traditions  of  bygone  days.  Without  any 
theoretical  hostility  to  the  co-ordinate  powers  of  the  state,  it  seemed 
to  him  a  perfectly  reasonable  and  natural  course  to  trample  either 
baronage  or  Church  under  foot  to  gain  his  end  of  good  govern- 
ment. He  saw  clearly  that  the  remedy  for  such  anarchy  as 
England  had  endured  under  Steghen  lay  in  the  establishment  of  a 
kingly  government  unembarrassed  by  any  privileges  of  order  or 
class,  administered  by  royal  servants,  and  in  whose  public  admin- 
istration the  nobles  acted  simply  as  delegates  of  the  sovereign. 
His  work  was  to  lie  in  the  organization  of  judicial  and  administra- 
tive reforms  which  realized  this  idea.  But  of  the  great  currents  of 
thought  and  feeling  which  were  tending  in  the  same  direction  he 
knew  nothing.  What  he  did  for  the  moral  and  social  impulses 
which  were  telling  on  men  about  him  was  simply  to  let  them 
alone.  Religion  grew  more  and  more  identified  with  patriotism 
under  the  eyes  of  a  King  who  whispered,  and  scribbled,  and  looked 
at  picture-books  during  mass,  who  never  confessed,  and  cursed  God 
in  wild  frenzies  of  blasphemy.  Great  peoples  formed  themselves  on 
both  sides  of  the  sea  round  a  sovereign  who  bent  the  whole  force 
of  his  mind  to  hold  together  an  Empire  which  the  growth  of 
nationality  must  inevitably  destroy.  There  is  throughout  a  tragic 


ii  ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS  199 

grandeur  in  the  irony  of  Henry's  position,  that  of  a  Sforza  of  the     SEC.  vin 
fifteenth  century  set  in  the  midst  of  the  twelfth,  building-  up  by  HENRY  THE 

&        r       3          SECOND 

patience  and   policy  and   craft  a  dominion   alien   to  the  deepest       1154 
sympathies  of  his  age,  and  fated  to  be  swept  away  in  the  end  by       1189 
popular  forces  to  whose  existence  his  very  .cleverness  and  activity 
blinded  him.    But  indirectly  and  unconsciously,  his  policy  did  more 
than  that  of  all  his  predecessors  to  prepare  England  for  the  unity 
and  freedom  which  the  fall  of  his  house  was  to  reveal. 

He  had  been  placed  on  the  throne,  as  we  have  seen,  by  the  Henry 
Church.  His  first  work  was  to  repair  the  evils  which  England  had  church 
endured  till  his  accession  by  the  restoration  of  the  system  of 
Henry  the  First  ;  and  it  was  with  the  aid  and  counsel  of  Theobald 
that  the  foreign  marauders  were  driven  from  the  realm,  the  castles 
demolished  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  baronage,  the  King's 
Court  and  Exchequer  restored.  Age  and  infirmity  however  warned 
the  Primate  to  retire  from  the  post  of  minister,  and  his  power  fell 
into  the  younger  and  more  vigorous  hands  of  Thomas  Beket,  who 
had  long  acted  as  his  confidential  adviser  and  was  now  made 
Chancellor.  Thomas  won  the  personal  favour  of  the  King.  The 
two  young  men  had,  in  Theobald's  words,  "  but  one  heart  and 
mind  ; "  Henry  jested  in  the  Chancellor's  hall,  or  tore  his  cloak 
from  his  shoulders  in  rough  horse-play  as  they  rode  through  the 
streets.  He  loaded  his  favourite  with  riches  and  honours,  but  there 
is  no  ground  for  thinking  that  Thomas  in  any  degree  influenced 
his  system  of  rule.  Henry's  policy  seems  for  good  or  evil  to  have 
been  throughout  his  own.  His  work  of  reorganization  went  steadily 
on  amidst  troubles  at  home  and  abroad.  Welsh  outbreaks  forced 
him  in  1157  to  lead  an  army  across  the  border.  The  next  year 
saw  him  drawn  across  the  Channel,  where  he  was  already  master 
of  a  third  of  the  present  France.  He  had  inherited  Anjou,  Maine, 
and  Touraine  from  his  father,  Normandy  from  his  mother,  and  the 
seven  provinces  of  the  South,  Poitou,  Saintonge,  the  Angoumois, 
La  Marche,  the  Limousin,  Perigord,  and  Gascony  belonged  to  his 
wife.  As  Duchess  of  Aquitaine  Eleanor  had  claims  on  Toulouse, 
and  these  Henry  prepared  in  1159  to  enforce  by  arms.  He  was 
however  luckless  in  the  war.  King  Lewis  of  France  threw  himself 
into  Toulouse.  Conscious  of  the  ill-compacted  nature  of  his  wide 
dominions,  Henry  shrank  from  an  open  contest  with  his  suzerain  ; 


a  5 

u  .« 

x.  o 

5  55 

G  «3 


CHAP,  ii          ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS 


2OI 


he  withdrew  his  forces,  and  the  quarrel  ended  in  1160  by  a  formal  s«=.  vm 
alliance  and  the  betrothal  of  his  eldest  son  to  the  daughter  of  H*,^™, 
Lewis.  Thomas  had  fought  bravely  throughout  the  campaign,  at 
the  head  of  the  700  knights  who  formed  his  household.  But  the 
King  had  other  work  for  him  than  war.  On  Theobald's  death  he 
at  once  forced  on  the  monks  of  Canterbury,  and  on  Thomas  him- 
self, his  election  as  Archbishop.  His  purpose  in  this  appointment 
was  soon  revealed.  Henry  proposed  to  the  bishops  that  a  clerk 


Il62 


SEAL    OF    S.    THOMAS. 
Journal  of  Archaeological  Association. 


MITRE    OF    S.    THOMAS,    AT    SENS. 


convicted  of  a  crime  should  be  deprived  of  his  orders,  and  handed 
over  to  the  King's  tribunals.  The  local  courts  of  the  feudal  baronage 
had  been  roughly  shorn  of  their  power  by  the  judicial  reforms  of 
Henry  the  First  ;  and  the  Church  courts,  as  the  Conqueror  had 
created  them,  with  their  exclusive  right  of  justice  over  the  clerical 
order,  in  other  words  over  the  whole  body  of  educated  -men 
throughout  the  realm,  formed  the  one  great  exception  to  the 
system  which  was  concentrating  all  jurisdiction  in  the  hands  of 
the  king.  The  bishops  yielded,  but  opposition  came  from  the  very 


2O2 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  VIII 

HENRY  THE 
SECOND 

H54 

TO 
Il89 


Constitu- 
tions of 
Clarendon 
1164 


prelate  whom  Henry  had  created  to  enforce  his  will.  From  the 
moment  of  his  appointment  Thomas  had  flung  himself  with  the 
whole  energy  of  his  nature  into  the  part  he  had  to  play.  At  the 
first  intimation  of  Henry's  purpose  he  had  pointed  with  a  laugh  to 
his  gay  attire — "You  are  choosing  a  fine  dress  to  figure  at  the 
head  of  your  Canterbury  monks  ; "  but  once  monk  and  primate, 
he  passed  with  a  fevered  earnestness  from  luxury  to  asceticism. 

Even  as  minister  he  had 
opposed  the  King's  de- 
signs, and  foretold  their 
future  opposition  :  "  You 
will  soon  hate  me  as 
much  as  you  love  me 
now,"  he  said,  "  for  you 
assume  an  authority  in 
the  affairs  of  the  Church 
to  which  I  shall  never 
assent."  A  prudent  man 
might  have  doubted  the 
wisdom  of  destroying 
the  only  shelter  which 
protected  piety  or  learn- 
ing against  a  despot  like 
the  Red  King,  and  in 
the  mind  of  Thomas  the 
ecclesiastical  immunities 

S.    THOMAS    AND    HIS    SECRETARY,  were  tg    of  the  sacre<j 

HERBERT    OF    BOSHAM. 

MS.  rrin.  Coii.  Cami.  B.  5,  4.  heritage  of  the  Church. 

He  stood  without  sup- 
port ;  the  Pope  advised  concession,  the  bishops  forsook  him,  and 
Thomas  bent  at  last  to  agree  to  the  Constitutions  drawn  up  at  the 
Council  of  Clarendon.  The  King  had  appealed  to  the  ancient 
"  customs  "  of  the  realm,  and  it  was  to  state  these  "  customs  "  that 
a  court  was  held  at  Clarendon  near  Salisbury.  The  report  pre- 
sented by  bishops  and  barons  formed  the  "  Constitutions  of 
Clarendon,"  a  code  which  in  the  bulk  of  its  provisions  simply 
re-enacted  the  system  of  the  Conqueror.  Every  election  of  bishop 
or  abbot  was  to  take  place  before  royal  officers,  in  the  King's 


II 


ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS 


203 


chapel,  and  with  the  King's  assent.     The  prelate  elect  was  bound 

to    do    homage    to   the 
King  for  his  lands,  be- 
fore    consecration,    and 
to  hold  his  lands  as   a 
barony   from    the   king, 
subject     to     all     feudal 
burthens  of  taxation  and 
attendance  in  the  King's 
court.    No  bishop  might 
leave  the  realm  without 
the  royal  permission.  No 
tenant  in  chief  or  royal 
servant  might  be  excom- 
municated, or  their  land 
placed    under    interdict, 
but  by  the  King's  assent. 
What  was  new  was  the 
legislation  respecting  ec- 
clesiastical   jurisdiction. 
The    King's    court    was 
to  decide  whether  a  suit 
between  clerk  and  layman,  whose  nature  was  disputed,  belonged  to 
the  Church  courts  or  the  King's.     A  royal  officer  was  to  be  present 
at  all  ecclesiasti- 
cal  proceedings, 
in  order  to  con- 
fine the  Bishop's 
court  within    its 
own  due  limits, 
and  a  clerk  once 
convicted    there 
passed    at    once 
under    the    civil 
jurisdiction.    An 
appeal    was    left 
from   the   Arch- 


SEC.  VIII 

HENRY  THE 

SECOND 

II£4 

T» 

1189 


KNOCKER   OF   SANCTUARY-DOOR,    DURHAM. 


FRITHSTOOL,    HEXHAM    PRIORY. 
Jusscraitii,  "  Wayfaring  Life." 


bishop's  court  to  the  King's  court  for  defect  of  justice,  but  none 


204 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  VIII 

HENRY  THE 
SECOND 

"54 

TO 


slight  of 
A  rch- 
bishop 

Thomas 
1164 


Beket's 

return 

1170 


might  appeal  to  the  Papal  court  save  with  the  King's  consent.  The 
privilege  of  sanctuary  in  churches  or  churchyards  was  repealed,  so 
far  as  property  and  not  persons  was  concerned.  After  a  passionate 
refusal  the  Primate  at  last  gave  his  assent  to  the  Constitutions  ;  but 
this  assent  was  soon  retracted,  and  the  King's  savage  resentment 
threw  the  moral  advantage  of  the  position  into  the  Archbishop's 
hands.  Vexatious  charges  were  brought  against  him  ;  in  the  Council 
of  Northampton  a  few  months  later  his  life  was  said  to  be  in 
danger,  and  all  urged  him  to  submit.  But  in  the  presence  of 
danger  the  courage  of  the  man  rose  to  its  full  height.  Grasping 
his  archiepiscopal  cross  he  entered  the  royal  court,  forbade  the 
nobles  to  condemn  him,  and  appealed  to  the  Papal  See.  Shouts 
of  "  Traitor  !  traitor  !  "  followed  him  as  he  retired.  The  Primate 
turned  fiercely  at  the  word  :  "  Were  I  a  knight,"  he  retorted, "  my 
sword  should  answer  that  foul  taunt ! "  At  nightfall  he  fled  in 
disguise,  and  reached  France  through  Flanders.  For  six  years  the 
contest  raged  bitterly ;  at  Rome,  at  Paris,  the  agents  of  the  two 
powers  intrigued  against  each  other.  Henry  stooped  to  acts  of 
the  meanest  persecution  in  driving  the  Primate's  kinsmen  from 
England,  and  in  threats  to  confiscate  the  lands  of  the  Cistercians 
that  he  might  force  the  monks  of  Pontigny  to  refuse  Thomas  a 
home  ;  while  Beket  himself  exhausted  the  patience  of  his  friends 
by  his  violence  and  excommunications,  as  well  as  by  the  stub- 
bornness with  which  he  clung  to  the  offensive  clause  "  Saving  the 
honour  of  my  order,"  the  addition  of  which  would  have  practically 
neutralized  the  King's  reforms.  The  Pope  counselled  mildness,  the 
French  king  for  a  time  withdrew  his  support,  his  own  clerks  gave 
way  at  last.  "  Come  up,"  said  one  of  them  bitterly  when  his  horse 
stumbled  on  the  road,  "  saving  the  honour  of  the  Church  and  my 
order."  But  neither  warning  nor  desertion  moved  the  resolution  of 
the  Primate.  Henry,  in  dread  of  papal  excommunication,  resolved 
at  last  on  the  coronation  of  his  son,  in  defiance  of  the  privileges  of 
Canterbury,  by  the  Archbishop  of  York.  But  the  Pope's  hands 
were  now  freed  by  his  successes  in  Italy,  and  his  threats  of  an 
interdict  forced  the  king  to  a  show  of  submission.  The  Arch- 
bishop was  allowed'  to  return  after  a  reconciliation  with  Henry  at 
Freteval,  and  the  Kentishmen  flocked  around  him  with  uproarious 
welcome  as  he  entered  Canterbury.  "  This  is  England,"  said  his 


II 


ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS 


205 


clerks,  as  they  saw  the  white  headlands  of  the  coast.  "  You  will  SEC.  vin 
wish  yourself  elsewhere  before  fifty  days  arc  gone,"  said  Thomas  HENRY  rm 
sadly,  and  his  foreboding  showed  his  appreciation  of  Henry's  1154 

TO 

1189 


S.    THOMAS   EXCOMMUNICATING    HIS   ENEMIES  AND   ARGUING   WITH    HENRY   AND   LOUIS. 


PARTING   OF    S.    THOMAS   AND   THE   TWO   KINGS. 

SCENES      KKOM       "VIE      DE      ST.     THOMAS." 

French  MS.   written  in  England,   1230 — 1260. 

Sotiftt  des  ancient  textei  f ran  fail. 


character.  He  was  now  in  the  royal  power,  and  orders  had  already 
been  issued  in  the  younger  Henry's  name  for  his  arrest,  when  four 
knights  from  the  King's  court,  spurred  to  outrage  by  a  passionate 


2O6 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  vin    outburst  of  their  master's  wrath,  crossed  the  sea  and  forced  their 

HENRY  THE  Way  into  the  Archbishop's  palace.     After  a  stormy  parley  with 

1154       him  in  his  chamber  they  withdrew  to  arm.     Thomas  was  hurried 


CROWNING   OF  THE  YOUNG   KING  J    HIS   FATHER   SERVING   HIM    AT   TABLE. 


S.    THOMAS   EMBARKING    FOR    ENGLAND 

SCENES      FROM      "VIE      DE      ST.      THOMAS." 

French  MS.  written  in  England,   1230 — 1260. 

Societe  des  anciens  textes  franfais. 

by  his  clerks  into  the  cathedral,  but  as  he  reached  the  steps  leading 
from  the  transept  to  the  choir  his  pursuers  burst  in  from  the 
cloisters.  "  Where,"  cried  Reginald  Fitzurse  in  the  dusk  of  the 


JI 


ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS 


207 


dimly-lighted   minster,   "  where  is   the   traitor,    Thomas   Beket  ? "     SEC.  vin 
The  Primate  turned  resolutely  back :  "  Here  am  I,  no  traitor,  but  a   HENRY  THE 

SECOND 

priest  of  God,"  he  replied,  and  again  descending  the  steps  he  1154 
placed  himself  with  his  back  against  a  pillar  and  fronted  his  foes. 
All  the  bravery,  the  violence  of  his  old  knightly  life  seemed  to 
revive  in  Thomas  as  he  tossed  back  the  threats  and  demands  of  his 
assailants.  "  You  are  our  prisoner,"  shouted  Fitzurse,  and  the  four 
knights  seized  him  to  drag  him  from  the  church.  "  Do  not  touch 
me,  Reginald,"  shouted  the  Primate,  "pander  that  you  are  you 
owe  me  fealty ; "  and  availing  himself  of  his  personal  strength  he 


MARTYRDOM  OF  S.  THOMAS  OF  CANTERBURY. 

Drawn    by    Matthew    Paris. 

MS.  C.C.C.  Camb.  xxvi. 


shook  him  roughly  off.  "  Strike,  strike,"  retorted  Fitzurse,  and 
blow  after  blow  struck  Thomas  to  the  ground.  A  retainer  of 
Ranulf  de  Broc  with  the  point  of  his  sword  scattered  the  Primate's 
brains  on  the  ground.  "  Let  us  be  off,"  he  cried  triumphantly, 
"  this  traitor  will  never  rise  again." 

The  brutal  murder  was  received  with  a  thrill  of  horror  throughout      Henry 
Christendom  ;  miracles  were  wrought  at  the  martyr's  tomb  ;  he  was    baronage 
canonized,  and  became  the  most  popular  of  English  saints  ;  but 
Henry's  show  of  submission  to  the  Papacy  averted  the  excom- 
munication which  at  first  threatened  to  avenge  the  deed  of  blood. 


208 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


"  CAPUT   THOM^." 
Sign  of  a  Canterbury 

Pilgrim. 

IVright,  ' '  A  rcheeological 
Alburn." 


scutage 


SEC.  vni    The  judicial  provisions  of  the-  Constitutions  of  Clarendon  were  in 

HEN^~THE  form  annulled,  and  liberty  of  election  was  restored  to  bishopricks 

1154       and  abbacies.     In  reality  however  the  victory  rested  with  the  King. 

Throughout  his  reign  ecclesiastical  appoint- 
ments were  practically  in  his  hands,  while  the 
King's  court  asserted  its  power  over  the 
spiritual  jurisdiction  of  the  bishops.  The  close 
of  the  struggle  left  Henry  free  to  complete 
his  great  work  of  legal  reform.  He  had  al- 
ready availed  himself  of  the  expedition  against 
Toulouse  to  deliver  a  blow  at  the  baronage 
by  allowing  the  lower  tenants  to  commute 
The  great  their  personal  service  in  the  field  .for  a  money  payment  under  the 

name  Qf  «<  scutage,"  or  shield-money.     The  King  thus  became  master 

of  resources  which  enabled  him    to   dispense   with   the    military 

support  of  his  tenants,  and  to  maintain  a  force  of  mercenary  soldiers 

in  their  place.     The  diminution  of  the  military  power  of  the  nobles 

was   accompanied 

by  measures  which 

robbed     them     of 

their    legal    juris- 

diction.    The  cir- 

cuits of  the  judges 

were  restored,  and 

instructions     were 

given  them  to  en- 

ter the  manors  ot 

the     barons     and 
Inquest  of  make  inquiry  into 

their      privileges  ; 

while  the  office  of 

sheriff  was    with- 

drawn   from     the 

great     nobles     of 

the  shire  and  en- 

trusted to  the  law- 

yers and  courtiers  who   already  furnished    the   staff  of    justices. 

The  resentment  of  the  barons  found  an  opportunity  of  displaying 


sheriffs 
1170 


SEAL  OF  THE  YOUNG  KING  HENRY,  SON  OF  HENRY  II. 


ii  ENGLAND    UNDER  FOREIGN  KINGS  209 

itself  when    the    King's  eldest    son,  whose    coronation  had    given     SEC.  vui 
him  the  title  of  King,  demanded  to  be  put  in  possession   of  his  HENRY  THK 

SECOND 

English  realm,  and  on  his  father's  refusal  took  refuge  with  Lewis       1154 

TO 

of  France.     France,    Flanders,    and    Scotland  joined   the   league       1189 
against  Henry  ;   his  younger  sons,  Richard  and  Geoffry,  took  up 
arms    in   Aquitaine.      In    England    a  x  descent  of   Flemish    mer- 
cenaries under  the  Earl   of  Leicester  was  repulsed  by  the  loyal 
justiciars  near  S.  Edmundsbury  ;  but  Lewis  had  no  sooner  entered 
Normandy   and    invested    Rouen   than    the   whole  extent  of  the 
danger    was    revealed.      The    Scots    crossed   the    border,    Roger 
Mowbray  rose  in  revolt  in  Yorkshire,  Ferrars,  Earl  of  Derby,  in 
the  midland  shires,   Hugh  Bigod    in   the   eastern  counties,  while 
a  Flemish  fleet  prepared  to  support  the  insurrection  by  a  descent 
upon  the  coast.     The  murder  of  Archbishop  Thomas  still   hung 
around  Henry's  neck,  and  his  first  act  in  hurrying  to  England  to 
meet  these  perils  was  to  prostrate  himself  before  the  shrine  of  the 
new  martyr,  and  to  submit  to  a  public  scourging  in  expiation  of 
his  sin.     But  the  penance  was  hardly  wrought  when  all  danger 
was  dispelled  by  a  series  of  triumphs.      The  King  of  Scotland, 
William  the  Lion,  surprised  by  the  English  under  cover  of  a  mist,       "74 
fell  into  the  hands  of  his  minister,  Ranulf  de  Glanvill,  and  at  the 
retreat  of  the  Scots  the  English  rebels  hastened  to  lay  down  their 
arms.     With  the  army  of  mercenaries  which  he  had  brought  over 
sea  Henry  was  able  to  return    to  Normandy,  to  raise   the   siege 
of  Rouen,  and  to  reduce  his  sons  to  submission.     The  revolt  of 
the   baronage  was    followed  by   fresh  blows  at  their   power.     A 
further  step  was  taken  a  few  years  later  in  the  military  organiza- 
tion   of  the    realm    by  the  Assize   of  Arms,  which   restored   the 
national  militia  to  the  place  which  it  had  lost  at  the  Conquest. 
The   substitution    of  scutage   for  military  service   had    freed    the 
crown   from  its  dependence  on  the   baronage   and  its  feudal  re- 
tainers ;  the  Assize  of  Arms  replaced  this  feudal  organization  by  Assize  of 
the  older  obligation  of  every  freeman  to  serve  in  the  defence  of       n8r 
the   realm.      Every  knight  was  bound  to   appear   at   the  King's 
call  in  coat  of  mail  and  with  shield  and  lance,  every  freeholder  with 
lance  and  hauberk,  every  burgess  and  poorer  freeman  with  lance 
and  helmet.     The  levy  of  an  armed  nation  was  thus  placed  wholly 
at  the  disposal  of  the  King  for  purposes  of  defence. 
VOL.  1—14 


210 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  VIII 

HENRY  THE 
SECOND 

"54 

TO 
1189 

Henry 

and  the 

law 


Asst.t?  of 
Clarendon 

1166 


Trial  by 
jury 


The  measures  we  have  named  were  only  part  of  Henry's 
legislation.  His  reign,  it  has  been  truly  said,  "initiated  the  rule  of 
law  "  as  distinct  from  the  despotism,  whether  personal  or  tempered 
by  routine,  of  the  Norman  kings.  It  was  in  successive  "Assizes" 
or  codes  issued  with  the  sanction  of  great  councils  of  barons  and 
prelates,  that  he  perfected  by 
a  system  of  reforms  the  ad- 
ministrative measures  which 
Henry  the  First  had  begun. 
The  fabric  of  our  judicial 
legislation  commences  with 
the  Assize  of  Clarendon,  the 
first  object  of  which  was  to 
provide  for  the  order  of  the 
realm  by  reviving  the  old 
English  system  of  mutual 
security  or  frankpledge.  No 
stranger  might  abide  in  any 
place  save  a  borough,  and 
there  but  for  a  single  night, 
unless  sureties  were  given  for 
his  good  behaviour ;  and  the 
list  of  such  strangers  was  to 
be  submitted  to  the  itinerant 
justices.  In  the  provisions  of 
this  assize  for  the  repression 
of  crime  we  find  the  origin 
of  trial  by  jury,  so  often 
attributed  to  earlier  times. 
Twelve  lawful  men  of  each 
hundred,  with  four  from  each 

TOWER    OF    HADDISCOE    CHURCH. 

township,  were  sworn  to  pre-  Twelfth  Century. 

sent   those  who  were  known 

or  reputed   as  criminals  within  their  district  for  trial  by  ordeal. 

The  jurors  were  thus  not  merely  witnesses,  but  sworn  to  act  as 

judges   also   in    determining   the   value   of  the   charge,  and  it  is 

this   double   character  of  Henry's  jurors  that   has  descended    to 

our  "  grand  jury,"  who   still  remain   charged    with   the   duty   of 


ii  ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS  211 

presenting  criminals  for  trial  after   examination  of  the  witnesses     SEC.  vin 
against  them.     Two  later  steps  brought  the  jury  to  its   modern  HESNE™NTDHE 
condition.     Under  Edward  the  First  witnesses  acquainted  with  the       "54 

TO 

particular  fact  in  question  were  added  in  each  case  to  the  general       1189 
jury,  and  by  the  separation  of  these  two  classes  of  jurors  at  a  later 
time  the  last  became   simply   "  witnesses "   without  any  judicial 
power,  while  the  first  ceased  to  be  witnesses  at  all,  and  became  our 
modern  jurors,  who  are  only  judges  of  the  testimony  given.     With 
this  assize,  too,  the  practice  which  had  prevailed  from  the  earliest 
English   times    of    "  compurgation "    passed    away.     Under    this 
system   the   accused   could   be   acquitted   of    the   charge   by  the 
voluntary    oath   of  his   neighbours   and   kinsmen  ;    but  this   was 
abolished  by  the  Assize  of  Clarendon,  and  for  the  next  fifty  years 
his  trial,  after  the  investigation  of  the  grand  jury,  was  found  solely 
in  the  ordeal  or  "judgement  of  God,"  where  innocence  was  proved 
by  the  power  of  holding  hot  iron  in  the  hand,  or  by  sinking  when 
flung  into  the  water,  for  swimming  was  a  proof  of  guilt.     It  was  the 
abolition  of  the  whole  system  of  ordeal  by  the  Council  of  Lateran       1216 
which  led  the  way  to  the  establishment  of  what  is  called  a  "  petty 
jury  "  for  the  final  trial  of  prisoners.      The  Assize  of  Clarendon 
was   expanded    in   that  of    Northampton,   which   was   drawn  up    Assize  of 
immediately  after  the  rebellion  of  the  Barons.     Henry,  as  we  have     ampton 
seen,  had  restored  the  King's  Court  and  the  occasional  circuits  of  its       II76 
justices :  by  the  Assize  of  Northampton  he  rendered  this  institution 
permanent  and  regular  by  dividing  the  kingdom  into  six  districts, 
to  each  of  which  he  assigned  three  itinerant  justices.     The  circuits 
thus  defined  correspond  roughly  with  those  that  still  exist.     The 
primary  object  of  these  circuits  was  financial,  but  the  rendering  of 
the  King's  justice  went  on  side  by  side  with  the  exaction  of  the 
King's  dues,  and  this  carrying  of  justice  to  every  corner  of  the 
realm  was  made  still  more  effective  by  the  abolition  of  all  feudal 
exemptions  from  the  royal  jurisdiction.      The  chief  danger  of  the 
new  system  lay  in  the  opportunities  it  afforded  to  judicial  corrup- 
tion ;  and  so  great  were  its  abuses  that  Henry  was  soon  forced  to  re- 
strict for  a  time  the  number  of  justices  to  five,  and  to  reserve  appeals       u7g 
from  their  court  to  himself  in  council.     The  Court  of  Appeal  which 
he  thus  created,  that  of  the  King  in   Council,  gave  birth  as  time 
went  on  to  tribunal  after  tribunal.     It  is  from  it  that  the  judicial 


212 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  VIII 

HENRY  THE 
SECOND 

H54 

TO 

u8g 


Death  of 
Henry 

the 
Second 


1183-1186 


1189 


powers  now  exercised  by  the  Privy  Council  are  derived,  as  well  as 
the  equitable  jurisdiction  of  the  Chancellor.  In  the  next  century 
it  becomes  the  Great  Council  of  the  realm,  from  which  the 
Privy  Council  drew  its  legislative,  and  the  House  of  Lords 
its  judicial  character.  The  Court  of 
Star  Chamber  and  the  Judicial  Com- 
mittee of  the  Privy  Council  are  later 
offshoots  of  Henry's  Court  of  Appeal. 
The  King's  Court,  which  became  in- 
ferior to  this  higher  jurisdiction,  was 
divided  after  the  Great  Charter  into  the 
three  distinct  courts  of  the  King's  Bench, 
the  Exchequer,  and  the  Common  Pleas, 
which  by  the  time  of  Edward  the  First 
received  distinct  judges,  and  became  for 
all  purposes  separate. 

For  the  ten  years  which  followed  the 
revolt  of  the  barons  Henry's  power  was 
at  its  height ;  and  an  invasion,  which 
we  shall  tell  hereafter,  had  annexed 
Ireland  to  his  English  crown.  But  the 
course  of  triumph  and  legislative  reform 
was  rudely  broken  by  the  quarrels  and 
revolts  of  his  sons.  The  successive 
deaths  of  Henry  and  Geoffry  were  fol- 
lowed by  intrigues  between  Richard, 
now  his  father's  heir,  who  had  been 
entrusted  with  Aquitaine,  and  Philip, 
who  had  succeeded  Lewis  on  the  throne 
.of  France.  The  plot  broke  out  at  last 
in  actual  conflict  ;  Richard  did  homage 
to  Philip,  and  their  allied  forces  sud- 
denly appeared  before  Le  Mans,  from 

which  Henry  was  driven  in  headlong  flight  towards  Normandy. 
From  a  height  where  he  halted  to  look  back  on  the  burning  city,  so 
dear  to  him  as  his  birthplace,  the  King  hurled  his  curse  against 
God  :  "  Since  Thou  hast  taken  from  me  the  town  I  loved  best, 
where  I  was  born  and  bred,  and  where  my  father  lies  buried,  I  will 


EFFIGY  OF   HENRY    II.    ON    HIS 
TOMB    AT    FONTEVRAUD. 


II 


ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS 


213 


OF   THE 

ANGEVINS 
1189 

TO 
I2O4 


have  my  revenge  on  Thee  too — I  will  rob  Thee  of  that  thing  Thou     SEC.  ix. 
lovest  most  in  me."  Death  was  upon  him,  and  the  longing  of  a    THE  FALL 

rwr   Tuff 

dying  man  drew  him  to  the  home  of  his  race,  but  Tours  fell  as  he 
lay  at  Saumur,  and  the  hunted  King  was  driven  to  beg  mercy  from 
his  foes.  They  gave  him  the  list  of  the  conspirators  against  him  : 
at  the  head  of  them  was  his  youngest  and  best  loved  son,  John. 
"  Now,"  he  said,  as  he  turned  his  face  to  the  wall,  "  let  things  go  as 
they  will — I  care  no  more  for  myself  or  for  the  world."  He  was 
borne  to  Chinon  by  the  silvery  waters  of  Vienne,  and  muttering, 
"  Shame,  shame  on  a  conquered  King,"  passed  sullenly  away. 


Section  IX. — The  Fall  of  the  Angevins,  1189 — 1204 

[Authorities. —  In  addition  to  those  mentioned  in  the  last  Section,  the 
Chronicle  of  Richard  of  Devizes,  and  the  "  Itinerarium  Regis  Ricardi,"  edited 
by  Dr.  Stubbs,  are  useful  for  Richard's  reign.  Rigord's  "  Gesta  Philippi/'  and 
the  '•  PhUippis  Willelmi  Britonis,"  the  chief  authorities  on  the  French  side,  are 
given  in  Duchesne,  "  Hist.  Franc.  Scriptores,"  vol.  v.] 

We  need  not  follow  Richard  in  the  Crusade  which  occupied  the  Richard 
beginning  of  his  reign,  and  which  left  England  for  four  years 
without  a  ruler, — in  his  quarrels  in  Sicily,  his  conquest  of  Cyprus, 
his  victory  at  Jaffa,  his  fruitless  march  upon  Jerusalem,  the  truce  1190-1194 
he  concluded  with  Saladin,  his  shipwreck  as  he  returned,  or  his 
two  imprisonments  in  Germany.  Freed  at  last  from  his  captivity, 
he  returned  to  face  new,  perils.  During  his  absence,  the  kingdom 
had  been  entrusted  to  William  of  Longchamp,  Bishop  of  Ely,  head 
of  Church  and  State,  as  at  once  Justiciar  and  Papal  Legate. 
Longchamp  was  loyal  to  the  King,  but  his  exactions  and  scorn  of 
Englishmen  roused  a  fierce  hatred  among  the  baronage,  and  this 
hatred  found  a  head  in  John,  traitor  to  his  brother  as  to  his  father. 
John's  intrigues  with  the  baronage  and  the  French  king  ended  at 
last  in  open  revolt,  which  was,  however,  checked  by  the  ability  of 
the  new  Primate,  Hubert  Walter  ;  and  Richard's  landing  in  1 194 
was  followed  by  his  brother's  complete  submission.  But  if  Hubert 
Walter  had  secured  order  in  England,  oversea  Richard  found  him- 
self face  to  face  with  dangers  which  he  was  too  clear-sighted  to 
undervalue.  Destitute  of  his  father's  administrative  genius,  less 


2i4  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE              CHAP. 

SEC.  ix.  ingenious  in  his  political  conceptions  than  John,  Richard  was  far 

THE  FALL  from  being  a  mere  soldier.      A  love  of  adventure,  a  pride  in  sheer 

OF    THE  .                 -11 

AXOEVINS  physical  strength,  here  and  there  a  romantic  generosity,  jostled 

•ro  roughly  with  the  craft,  the  unscrupulousness,  the  violence  of  his 

—  race  ;  but  he  was  at  heart   a  statesman,  cool  and  patient  in  the 

execution  of  his  plans  as  he  was  bold  in  their  conception.       "  The 


GREAT    SEAL    OF    RICHARD    I. 


devil  is  loose ;  take  care  of  yourself,"  Philip  had  written  to  John  at 
the  news  of  the  king's  release.  In  the  French  king's  case  a  restless 
ambition  was  spurred  to  action  by  insults  which  he  had  borne 
during  the  Crusade,  and  he  had  availed  himself  of  Richard's 
imprisonment  to  invade  Normandy,  while  the  lords  of  Aquitaine 
rose  in  revolt  under  the  troubadour  Bertrand  de  Born.  Jealousy  of 
the  rule  of  strangers,  weariness  of  the  turbulence  of  the  mercenary 
soldiers  of  the  Angevins  or  of  the  greed  and  oppression  of  their 
financial  administration,  combined  with  an  impatience  of  their  firm 


II 


ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS 


215 


government  and  vigorous  justice  to  alienate  the  nobles  of  their 
provinces  on  the  Continent.  Loyalty  among  the  people  there  was 
none  ;  even  Anjou,  the  home  of  their  race,  drifted  towards  Philip 
as  steadily  as  Poitou.  But  in  warlike  ability  Richard  was  more 
than  Philip's  peer.  He  held  him  in  check  on  the  Norman  frontier 
and  surprised  his  treasure  at  Freteval,  while  he  reduced  to 
submission  the  rebels  of  Aquitaine.  England,  drained  by  the  tax 
for  Richard's  ransom,  groaned  under  its  burdens  as  Hubert 
Walter  raised  vast  sums  to  support  the  army  of  mercenaries  which 
Richard  led  against  his  foes. 

Crushing  taxation  had  wrung  from  England  wealth  which  again 
filled  the  royal  treasury,  and  during  a  short  truce  Richard's  bribes 
detached  Flanders  from  the  French  alliance,  and  united  the  Counts 
of  Chartres,  Champagne,  and  Boulogne  with  the  Bretons  in  a 
revolt  against  Philip.  He  won  a  valuable  aid  by  the  election  of 
his  nephew  Otto  to  the  German  throne,  and  his  envoy,  William 
Longchamp,  knitted  an  alliance  which  would  bring  the  German 
lances  to  bear  on  the  King  of  Paris.  But  the  security  of  Nor- 
mandy was  requisite  to  the  success  of  these  wider  plans,  and 
Richard  saw  that  its  defence  could  no  longer  rest  on  the  loyalty  of 
the  Norman  people.  His  father  might  trace  his  descent  through 
Matilda  from  the  line  of  Hrolf,  but  the  Angevin  ruler  was  in  fact 
a  stranger  to  the  Norman.  It  was 
impossible  for  a  Norman  to  recog- 
nize his  Duke  with  any  real  sym- 
pathy in  the  Angevin  prince  whom 
he  saw  moving  along  the  border 
at  the  head  of  Braban9on  mer- 
cenaries, in  whose  camp  the  old 
names  of  the  Norman  baronage 
were  missing,  and  Merchade,  a 
Provencal  ruffian,  held  supreme 
command.  The  purely  military 
site  which  Richard  selected  for 
the  new  fortress  with  which  he 
guarded  the  border  showed  his 

realization  of  the  fact  that  Normandy  could  now  only  be  held  by 
force    of   arms.      As    a    monument    of  warlike    skill    his    "  Saucy 


SEC.  IX 
THE  FALL 

OF    THU 

ANGEVINS 
1189 

TO 
1204 


Chateau- 
Gaillard 


SEAL   OF    LES   ANDELYS,  WITH    REPRE- 
SENTATION OF  CHATEAU  GAILLARD. 
Late  Thirteenth  or  Early  Fourteenth  Century 
Collection  of  the  late  Rev.  S.  S.  Lewis. 


216  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE          CHAP,  n 

SEC.  ix      Castle,"  Chateau-Gaillard,  stands  first  among  the  fortresses  of  the 
THE  FALL     middle  a^es.     Richard  fixed  its  site  where  the  Seine  bends  sud- 

OF    THE 

ANGEVINS    (jeniy  at  Gaillon  in  a  great  semicircle  to  the  north,  and  where  the 
1189 
TO         valley  of  Les  Andelys  breaks  the  line  of  the  chalk  cliffs  along  its 

banks.  Blue  masses  of  woodland  crown  the  distant  hills  ;  within 
the  river  curve  lies  a  dull  reach  of  flat  meadow,  round  which  the 
Seine,  broken  with  green  islets,  and  dappled  with  the  grey  and 
blue  of  the  sky,  flashes  like  a  silver  bow  on  its  way  to  Rouen.  The 
castle  formed  a  part  of  an  entrenched  camp  which  Richard  de- 
signed to  cover  his  Norman  capital.  Approach  by  the  river  was 
blocked  by  a  stockade  and  a  bridge  of  boats,  by  a  fort  on  the  islet 
in  mid-stream,  and  by  the  fortified  town  which  the  King  built  in 
the  valley  of  the  Gambon,  then  an  impassable  marsh.  In  the 
angle  between  this  valley  and  the  Seine,  on  a  spur  of  the  chalk 
hills  which  only  a  narrow  neck  of  land  connects  with  the  general 
plateau,  rose  at  the  height  of  300  feet  above  the  river  the  crowning 
fortress  of  the  whole.  Its  outworks  and  the  walls  which  connected 
it  with  the  town  and  stockade  have  for  the  most  part  gone, "  but 
time  and  the  hand  of  man  have  done  little  to  destroy  the  fortifica- 
tions themselves — the  fosse,  hewn  deep  into  the  solid  rock,  with 
casemates  hollowed  out  along  its  sides,  the  fluted  walls  of  the 
citadel,  the  huge  donjon  looking  down  on  the  brown  roofs  and 
huddled  gables  of  Les  Andelys.  Even  now  in  its  ruin  we  can 
understand  the  triumphant  outburst  of  its  royal  builder  as  he  saw 
it  rising  against  the  sky :  "  How  pretty  a  child  is  mine,  this  child 
of  but  one  year  old  !  "  . 

Richard's  The  easy  reduction  of  Normandy  on  the  fall  of  Chateau- 
Gaillard  at  a  later  time  proved  Richard's  foresight ;  but  foresight 
and  sagacity  were  mingled  in  him  with  a  brutal  violence  and  a 
callous  indifference  to  honour.  "  I  would  take  it,  were  its  walls  of 
iron,"  Philip  exclaimed  in  wrath  as  he  saw  the  fortress  rise.  "  I 
would  hold  it,  were  its  walls  of  butter,"  was  the  defiant  answer  of 
his  foe.  It  was  Church  land,  and  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen  laid 
Normandy  under  interdict  at  its  seizure,  but  the  King  met  the 
interdict  with  mockery,  and  intrigued  with  Rome  till  the  censure 
was  withdrawn.  He  was  just  as  defiant  of  a  "rain  of  blood," 
whose  fall  scared  his  courtiers.  "  Had  an  angel  from  heaven  bid 
him  abandon  his  work,"  says  a  cool  observer,  '•'  he  would  have 


2l8 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  IX 
THE  FALL 

OF    THE 

ANGEVINS 
1189 

TO 
I2O4 


"99 


The  loss 
•of  Nor- 
mandy 


I2O2 


answered  with  a  curse."  The  twelvemonths'  hard  work,  in  fact,  by 
securing  the  Norman  frontier,  set  Richard  free  to  deal  his  long- 
planned  blow  at  Philip.  Money  only  was  wanting,  and  the  king 
listened  with  more  than  the  greed  of  his  race  to  the  rumour  that  a 
treasure  had  been  found  in  the  fields  of  the  Limousin.  Twelve 
knights  of  gold  seated  round  a  golden  table  were  the  find,  it  was 
said,  of  the  Lord  of  Chalus.  Treasure-trove  at  any  rate  there 
was,  and  Richard  prowled  around  the  walls,  but  the  castle  held 
stubbornly  out  till  the  King's  greed  passed  into  savage  menace  ; 
he  would  hang  all,  he  swore — man,  woman,  the  very  child  at  the 
breast.  In  the  midst  of  his  threats  an  arrow  from  the  walls 
struck  him  down.  He  died  as  he  had  lived,  own-ing  the  wild 
passion  which  for  seven  years  past  had  kept  him  from  confession 
lest  he  should  be  forced  to  pardon  Philip,  forgiving  with  kingly 
generosity  the  archer  who  had  shot  him. 

The  Angevin  dominion  broke  to  pieces  at  his  death.  John  was 
acknowledged  as  king  in  England  and  Normandy,  Aquitaine  was 
secured  for  him  by  its  Duchess,  his  mother ;  but  Anjou,  Maine, 
and  Touraine  did  homage  to  Arthur,  the  son  of  his  elder  brother 
Geoffry,  the  late  Duke  of  Britanny.  The  ambition  of  Philip,  who 
protected  his  cause,  turned  the  day  against  Arthur  ;  the  Angevins 
rose  against  the  French  garrisons  with  which  the  French  King 
practically  annexed  the  country,  and  John  was  at  last  owned 
as  master  of  the  whole  dominion  of  his  house.  A  fresh  outbreak 
of  war  in  Poitou  was  fatal  to  his  rival ;  surprised  at  the  siege  of 
Mirebeau  by  a  rapid  march  of  the  King,  Arthur  was  taken 
prisoner  to  Rouen  and  murdered  there,  as  men  believed,  by  his 
uncle's  hand.  The  brutal  outrage  at  once  roused  the  French 
provinces  in  revolt,  while  the  French  King  marched  straight  on 
Normandy.  The  ease  with  which  its  conquest  was  effected  can 
only  be  explained  by  the  utter  absence  of  any  popular  resistance 
on  the  part  of  the  Normans  themselves.  Half  a  century  before 
the  sight  of  a  Frenchman  in  the  land  would  have  roused  every 
peasant  to  arms  from  Avranches  to  Dieppe,  but  town  after  town 
surrendered  at  the  mere  summons  of  Philip,  and  the  conqucrt  was 
hardly  over  before  Normandy  settled  down  into  the  most  loyal  of 
the  provinces  of  France.  Much  of  this  was  due  to  the  wise 
liberality  with  which  Philip  met  th^  claims  of  the  towns  to  inde- 


H  ENGLAND    UNDER    FOREIGN    KINGS  2r9 

pendence  and  self-government,  as  well  as  to  the  overpowering  force     SEC.  ix 
and  military  ability  with  which    the  conquest  was  effected.     But    THE  FALL 

OF   THE 

the  utter  absence  of  all  opposition  sprang  from  a  deeper  cause.  ANGEVINS 
To  the  Norman  his  transfer  from  John  to  Philip  was  a  mere 
passing  from  one  foreign  master  to  another,  and  foreigner  for 
foreigner  Philip  was  the  less  alien  of  the  two.  Between  France 
and  Normandy  there  had  been  as  many  years  of  friendship  as  of 
strife  ;  between  Norman  and  Angevin  lay  a  century  of  bitterest 
hate.  Moreover,  the  subjection  to  France  was  the  realization  in 
fact  of  a  dependence  which  had  always  existed  in  theory ;  Philip 
entered  Rouen  as  the  over-lord  of  its  Dukes  ;  while  the  submission 
to  the  house  of  Anjou  had  been  the  most  humiliating  of  all 
submissions,  the  submission  to  an  equal. 

It  was  the  consciousness  of  this  temper  in  the  Norman  people 
that  forced  John  to  abandon  all  hope  of  resistance  on  the  failure 
of  his  attempt  to  relieve  Chateau-Gaillard,  by  the  siege  of  which 
Philip  commenced  his  invasion.  The  skill  with  which  the 
combined  movements  for  its  relief  were  planned  proved  the  King's 
military  ability.  The  besiegers  were  parted  into  two  masses  by 
the  Seine  ;  the  bulk  of  their  forces  were  camped  in  the  level  space 
within  the  bend  of  the  river,  while  one  division  was  thrown  across 
it  to  occupy  the  valley  of  the  Gambon,  and  sweep  the  country 
around  of  its  provisions.  John  proposed  to  cut  the  French  army 
in  two  by  destroying  the  bridge  of  boats  which  formed  the  only 
communication  between  the  two  bodies,  while  the  whole  of  his 
own  forces  flung  themselves  on  the  rear  of  the  French  division 
encamped  in  the  cul-de-sac  formed  by  the  river-bend,  and  without 
any  exit  save  the  bridge.  Had  the  attack  been  carried  out  as  ably 
as  it  was  planned,  it  must  have  ended  in  Philip's  ruin  ;  but  the  two 
assaults  were  not  made  simultaneously,  and  were  successively 
repulsed.  The  repulse  was  followed  by  the  utter  collapse  of  the 
military  system  by  which  the  Angevins  had  held  Normandy ; 
John's  treasury  was  exhausted,  and  his  mercenaries  passed  over  to 
the  foe.  The  King's  despairing  appeal  to  the  Duchy  itself  came 
too  late  ;  its  nobles  were  already  treating  with  Philip,  and  the 
towns  were  incapable  of  resisting  the  siege  train  of  the  French. 
It  was  despair  of  any  aid  from  Normandy  that  drove  John  over  sea 
to  seek  it  as  fruitlessly  from  England,  but  with  the  fall  of  Chateau- 


22O 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP.  II 


SEC.  IX 

THE  FALL 

OF  THE 

ANGEVINS 

1189 

TO 
1204 

1204 


Gaillard,  after  a  gallant  struggle,  the  province  passed  without  a 
struggle  into  the  French  King's  hands.  In  1204  Philip  turned  on 
the  south  with  as  startling  a  success.  Maine,  Anjou,  and  Touraine 
passed  with  little  resistance  into  his  hands,  and  the  death  of 
Eleanor  was  followed  by  the  submission  of  the  bulk  of  Aquitaine. 
Little  was  left  save  the  country  south  of  the  Garonne  ;  and  from 
the  lordship  of  a  vast  empire  that  stretched  from  the  Tyne  to  the 
Pyrenees  John  saw  himself  reduced  at  a  blow  to  the  realm  of 
England.  On  the  loss  of  Chateau-Gaillard  in  fact  hung  the 
destinies  of  England,  and  the  interest  that  attaches  one  to  the 
grand  ruin  on  the  heights  of  Les  Andelys  is,  that  it  represents  the 
ruin  of  a  system  as  well  as  of  a  camp.  From  its  dark  donjon  and 
broken  walls  we  see  not  merely  the  pleasant  vale  of  Seine,  but  the 
sedgy  flats  of  our  own  Runnymede. 


CHATEAU-GAILLARD   FROM   THE   SOUTH. 
After  J.  M.  W.  Turner. 


ANCIENT    SWORD    OF    STATE,    ISLE    OF    MAM 
Manx  Society's  Publications 


CHAPTER  III 

THE    GREAT    CHARTER 

1204 — 1265 

Section  I. — English   Literature   under  the    Norman   and 
Angevin    Kings 

[Authorities. — For  the  general  literature  of  this  period,  see  Mr.  Morley's 
"English  Writers  from  the  Conquest  to  Chaucer,"  vol.  i.  part  ii.  The  prefaces 
of  Mr.  Brewer  and  Mr.  Dimock  to  his  collected  works  in  the  Rolls  Series  give 
all  that  can  be  known  of  Gerald  de  Barri.  The  poems  of  Walter  Map  have 
been  edited  by  Mr.  Wright  for  the  Camden  Society  ;  Layamon,  by  Sir  F. 
Madden.] 

IT  is  in  a   review   of   the   literature   of  England    during   the       The 
period  that  we  have  just  traversed  that  we  shall  best  understand 
the  new  English  people  with  which  John,  when  driven  from  Nor- 
mandy, found  himself  face  to  face. 

In  his  contest  with  Beket,  Henry  the  Second  had  been  power- 
fully aided  by  the  silent  revolution  which  now  began  to  part  the 
purely  literary  class  from  the  purely  clerical.  During  the  earlier 
ages  of  our  history  we  have  seen  literature  springing  up  in 
ecclesiastical  schools,  and  protecting  itself  against  the  ignorance 
and  violence  of  the  time  under  ecclesiastical  privileges.  Almost 
all  our  writers  from  Baeda  to  the  days  of  the  Angevins  are  clergy 
or  monks.  The  revival  of  letters  which  followed  the  Conquest 
was  a  purely  ecclesiastical  revival ;  the  intellectual  impulse  which 
Bee  had  given  to  Normandy  travelled  across  the  Channel  with 
the  new  Norman  abbots  who  were  'established  in  the  greater 
English  monasteries  ;  and  writing-rooms  or  scriptoria,  where  the 
chief  works  of  Latin  literature,  patristic  or  classical,  were  copied 


222 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  I 

ENGLISH 
LITERATI KE 
UNDER  THE 

NORMAN 
AND  ANGE- 
VIN KINGS 


Litera- 
ture 

and  the 
Court 


William 

of 

Malmes- 
bury 


The  Court 
historians 


and  illuminated,  the  lives  of  saints  compiled,  and  entries  noted 
in  the  monastic  chronicle,  formed  from  this  time  a  part  of  every 
religious  house  of  any  importance.  But  the  literature  which  found 
this  religious  shelter  was  not  so  much  ecclesiastical  as  secular. 
Even  the  philosophical  and  devotional  impulse  given  by  Anselm 
produced  no  English  work  of  theology  or  metaphysics.  The 
literary  revival  which  followed  the  Conquest  took  mainly  the  old 
historical  form.  At  Durham,  Turgot  and  Simeon  threw  into 
Latin  shape  the  national  annals  to  the  time  of  Henry  the  First 
with  an  especial  regard  to  northern  affairs,  while  the  earlier  events 
of  Stephen's  reign  were  noted  down  by  two  Priors  of  Hexham 
in  the  wild  border-land  between  England  and  the  Scots.  These 
however  were  the  colourless  jottings  of  mere  annalists  ;  it  was  in 
the  Scriptorium  of  Canterbury,  in  Osbern's  lives  of  the  English 
saints,  or  in  Eadmer's  record  of  the  struggle  of  Anselm  against 
the  Red  King  and  his  successor,  that  we  see  the  first  indications  of 
a  distinctively  English  feeling  telling  on  the  new  literature.  The 
national  impulse  is  yet  more  conspicuous  in  the  two  historians 
that  followed.  The  war-songs  of  the  English  conquerors  of 
Britain  were  preserved  by  Henry,  an  Archdeacon  of  Huntingdon, 
who  wove  them  into  annals  compiled  from  Baeda  and  the 
Chronicle ;  while  William,  the  librarian  of  Malmesbury,  as  in- 
dustriously collected  the  lighter  ballads  which  embodied  the 
popular  traditions  of  the  English  Kings. 

It  is  in  William  above  all  others  that  we  see  the  new  tendency 
of  English  literature.  In  himself,  as  in  his  work,  he  marks  the 
fusion  of  the  conquerors  and  the  conquered,  for  he  was  of  both 
English  and  Norman  parentage,  and  his  sympathies  were  as 
divided  as  his  blood.  The  form  and  style  of  his  writings  show 
the  influence  of  those  classical  studies  which  were  now  reviving 
throughout  Christendom.  Monk  as  he  is,  he  discards  the  older 
ecclesiastical  models  and  the  annalistic  form.  Events  are  grouped 
together  with  no  strict  reference  to  time,  while  the  lively  narrative 
flows  rapidly  and  loosely  along,  with  constant  breaks  of  digression 
over  the  general  history  of  Europe  and  the  Church.  It  is  in  this 
change  of  historic  spirit  that  W'illiam  takes  his  place  as  first  of  the 
more  statesmanlike  and  philosophic  school  of  historians  who  began 
soon  to  arise  in  direct  connection  with  the  Court,  and  amongst 


in 


THE    GREAT    CHARTER 


223 


GLISH     - 
RATURB 


whom  the  author  of  the  chronicle  which  commonly  bears  the  name       SEC.  i 
of    "  Benedict   of    Peterborough."   with   his   continuator    Roger   of     EN 

LITEI 

Howden,   are   the    most    conspicuous.     Both   held   judicial    offices   V™EK  THK 

J  INORMAN 

under  Henry  the  Second,  and  it  is  to  their  position  at  Court  that 
they  owe  the  fulness  and  accuracy  of  their  information  as  to  affairs 
at  home  and  abroad,  their  copious  supply  of  official  documents, 


MONK    ILLUMINATING,    C.    I2OO. 
MS.  Bodl.  602. 


and  the  purely  political  temper  with  which  they  regard  the  conflict 
of  Church  and  State  in  their  time.  The  same  freedom  from 
ecclesiastical  bias,  combined  with  remarkable  critical  ability,  is 
found  in  the  history  of  William,  the  Canon  of  Newburgh,  who 
wrote  far  away  in  his  Yorkshire  monastery.  The  English  court, 
however,  had  become  the  centre  of  a  distinctly  secular  literature. 
The  treatise  of  Ranulf  de  Glanvill,  the  justiciar  of  Henry  the 


224  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE        CHAP,  in 

SEC.  i       Second,  is  the  earliest  work  on  English  law,  as  that  of  the  royal 
ENGLISH     treasurer.  Richard  Fitz-Neal,  on  the  Exchequer  is  the  earliest  on 

LITERATURE 

"•N'ORM!^    English  government. 

™?  KINGS  Still  more  distinctly  secular  than  these,  though  the  work  of 
Gerald  a  priest  who  claimed  to  be  a  bishop,  are  the  writings  of  Gerald  de 

of  Wales  Barri  Gerald  is  the  father  of  our  popular  literature,  as  he  is  the 
originator  of  the  political  and  ecclesiastical  pamphlet.  Welsh 
blood  (as  his  usual  name  of  Giraldus  Cambrensis  implies)  mixed 
with  Norman  in  his  veins,  and  something  of  the  restless  Celtic 
fire  runs  alike  through  his  writings  and  his  life.  A  busy  scholar 
at  Paris,  a  reforming  archdeacon  in  Wales,  the  wittiest  of  Court 
chaplains,  the  most  troublesome  of  bishops,  Gerald  became  the 
gayest  and  most  amusing  of  all  the  authors  of  his  time.  In  his 
hands  the  stately  Latin  tongue  took  the  vivacity  and  pictur- 
esqueness  of  the  jongleur's  verse.  Reared  as  he  had  been  in 
classical  studies,  he  threw  pedantry  contemptuously  aside.  "It  is 
better  to  be  dumb  than  not  to  be  understood,"  is  his  characteristic 
apology  for  the  novelty  of  his  style :  "  new  times  require  new 
fashions,  and  so  I  have  thrown  utterly  aside  the  old  and  dry 
method  of  some  authors,  and  aimed  at  adopting  the  fashion  of 
speech  which  is  actually  in  vogue  to-day."  His  tract  on  the 
conquest  of  Ireland  and  his  account  of  Wales,  which  are  in  fact 
reports  of  two  journeys  undertaken  in  those  countries  with  John 
and  Archbishop  Baldwin,  illustrate  his  rapid  faculty  of  careless 
observation,  his  audacity,  and  his  good  sense.  They  are  just  the 
sort  of  lively,  dashing  letters  that  we  find  in  the  correspondence 
of  a  modern  journal.  There  is  the  same  modern  tone  in  his 
political  pamphlets  ;  his  profusion  of  jests,  his  fund  of  anecdote, 
the  aptness  of  his  quotations,  his  natural  shrewdness  and  critical 
acumen,  the  clearness  and  vivacity  of  his  style,  are  backed  by  a 
fearlessness  and  impetuosity  that  made  him  a  dangerous  assailant 
even  to  such  a  ruler  as  Henry  the  Second.  The  invectives  in 
which  Gerald  poured  out  his  resentment  against  the  Angevins 
are  the  cause  of  half  the  scandal  about  Henry  and  his  sons 
which  has  found  its  way  into  history.  His  life  was  wasted  in 
an  ineffectual  struggle  to  secure  the  see  of  St.  David's,  but  his 
pungent  pen  played  its  part  in  rousing  the  spirit  of  the  nation 
to  its  struggle  with  the  Crown. 


FAUNA    OF    IRELAND,    AS    DESCRIBED    BY    GERALD    OF    WALES. 

MS.    Roy.    13,    £.    viii. 

Thirteenth  Century. 


VOL.  1—15 


226 


HISTORY   ,OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  I 

ENGLISH 
LITERATURE 
UNDER  THE 

NORMAN 
AND  ANGE- 
VIN KINGS 

Romance 


Geoffry 
of  Mon- 
•  mouth 


A  tone  of  distinct  hostility  to  the  Church  developed  itself 
almost  from  the  first  among  the  singers  of  romance.  Romance 
had  long  before  taken  root  in  the  court  of  Henry  the  First,  where 
under  the  patronage  of  Queen  Maud  the  dreams  of  Arthur,  so 
long  cherished  by  the  Celts  of  Britanny,  and  which  had  travelled 
to  Wales  in  the  train  of  the  exile  Rhys  ap  Tewdor,  took  shape 
in  the  History  of  the  Britons  by  Geoffry  of  Monmouth.  Myth, 
legend,  tradition,  the  classical  pedantry  of  the  day,  Welsh  hopes 
of  future  triumph  over  the  Saxon,  the  memories  of  the  Crusades 
and  of  the  world-wide  dominion  of  Charles  the  Great,  were 


HEDGEHOGS    AND    MUSHROOM. 

Bestiarium,  c.  A.D.  1200. 

MS.  Bodl.  602. 


mingled  together  by  this  daring  fabulist  in  a  work  whose 
popularity  became  '  at  once  immense.  Alfred  of  Beverley  trans- 
ferred Geoffry's  inventions  into  the  region  of  sober  history,  while 
two  Norman  trouveres,  Gaimar  and  Wace,  translated  them  into 
French  verse.  So  complete  was  the  credence  they  obtained, 
that  Arthur's  tomb  at  Glastonbury  was  visited  by  Henry  the 
Second,  while  the  child  of  his  son  Geoffry  and  of  Constance  of 
Britanny  bore  the  name  of  the  Celtic  hero.  Out  of  Geoffry's 
creation  grew  little  by  little  the  poem  of  the  Table  Round. 
Britanny,  which  had  mingled  with  the  story  of  Arthur  the  older 
and  more  mysterious  legend  of  the  Enchanter  Merlin,  lent  that  of 


Ill 


THE    GREAT    CHARTER 


227 


Lancelot  to  the  wandering  minstrels  of  the  day,  who  moulded  it,  as 
they  wandered  from  hall  to  hall,  into  the  familiar  tale  of  knight- 
hood wrested  from  its  loyalty  by 
the  love  of  woman.  The  stories 
of  Tristram  and  Gawayne,  at  first 
as  independent  as  that  of  Lancelot, 
were  drawn  with  it  into  the  whirl- 
pool of  Arthurian  romance  ;  and 
when  the  Church,  jealous  of  the 
popularity  of  the  legends  of  chiv- 
alry, invented  as  a  counteracting 
influence  the  poem  of  the  Sacred 
Dish,  the  San  Graal  which  held 
the  blood  of  the  Cross  invisible  to 
all  eyes  but  those  of  the  pure  in 
heart,  the  genius  of  a  court  poet, 
Walter  de  Map,  wove  the  rival 
legends  together,  sent  Arthur  and 
his  knights  wandering  over  sea 
and  land  in  the  quest  of  the  San 
Graal,  and  crowned  the  work  by 
the  figure  of  Sir  Galahad,  the  type 
of  ideal  knighthood,  without  fear 
and  without  reproach. 

Walter  stands  before  us  as  the 
representative  of  a  sudden  out- 
burst of  literary,  social,  and  re- 
ligious criticism  which  followed 
the  growth  of  romance  and  the 

appearance  of  a  freer  historical  tone  in  the  court  of  the  two 
Henries.  Born  on  the  Welsh  border,  a  student  at  Paris,  a 
favourite  with  the  King,  a  royal  chaplain,  justiciar,  and  ambassador, 
the  genius  of  Walter  de  Map  was  as  various  as  it  was  prolific. 
He  is  as  much  at  his  ease  in  sweeping  together  the  chit-chat  of  the 
time  in  his  "  Courtly  Trifles "  as  in  creating  the  character  of  Sir 
Galahad.  But  he  only  rose  to  his  fullest  strength  when  he  turned 
from  the  fields  of  romance  to  that  of  Church  reform,  and  embodied 
the  ecclesiastical  abuses  of  his  day  in  the  figure  of  his  "  Bishop 


SHOOTING    BIRDS    IN    A    TREE. 

MS.    Askm.    1511. 

c.  A.D.  1200. 


SEC.  I 

ENGLISH 
LITERATURE 
UNDER  THE 

NORMAN 
AND  ANGE- 
VIN KINGS 


Walter 
de  Map 


228 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  I 

ENGLISH 
LITERATURE 
UNDER  THE 

NORMAN 
AND  ANGE- 
VIN KINGS 


Revival 
of  the 

English 
tongue 


Goliath."  The  whole  spirit  of  Henry  and  his  court  in  their 
struggle  with  Beket  is  reflected  and  illustrated  in  the  apocalypse 
and  confession  of  this  imaginary  prelate.  Picture  after  picture 
strips  the  veil  from  the  corruption  of  the  mediaeval  Church,  its 
indolence,  its  thirst  for  gain,  its  secret  immorality.  The  whole  body 
of  the  clergy,  from  Pope  to  hedge-priest,  is  painted  as  busy  in  the 
chase  for  gain  ;  what  escapes  the  bishop  is  snapped  up  by  the 
archdeacon,  what  escapes  the  arch- 
deacon is  nosed  and  hunted  down 
by  the  dean,  while  a  host  of  minor 
officials  prowl  hungrily  around  these 
greater  marauders.  Out  of  the  crowd 
of  figures  which  fills  the  canvas  of 
the  satirist,  pluralist  vicars,  abbots 
"  purple  as  their  wines,"  monks  feed- 
ing and  chattering  together  like 
parrots  in  the  refectory,  rises  the 
Philistine  Bishop,  light  of  purpose, 
void  of  conscience,  lost  in  sensuality, 
drunken,  unchaste,  the  Goliath  who 
sums  up  the  enormities  of  all,  and 
against  whose  forehead  this  new 
David  slings  his  sharp  pebble  of  the 
brook. 

It  is  only,  however,  as  the  writ- 
ings of  Englishmen  that  Latin  or 
French  works  like  these  can  be 
claimed  as  part  of  English  litera- 
ture. The  spoken  tongue  of  the 
nation  at  large  remained  of  course  English  as  before  ;  William 
himself  had  tried  to  learn  it  that  he  might  administer  justice 
to  his  subjects ;  and  for  a  century  after  the  Conquest  only  a 
few  new  words  crept  in  from  the  language  of  the  conquerors. 
Even  English  literature,  banished  as  it  was  from  the  court  of 
the  stranger  and  exposed  to  the  fashionable  rivalry  of  Latin 
scholars,  survived  not  only  in  religious  wqrks,  in  poetic  para- 
phrases of  gospels  and  psalms,  but  in  the  great  monument  of 
our  prose,  the  English  Chronicle.  It  was  not  till  the  miserable 


GLUTTONY. 

MS.    Artindel   91. 

Twelfth  Century. 


THE    GREAT    CHARTER  229 

reign  of  Stephen  that  the  Chronicle  died  out  in  the  Abbey  of  SK.  i 
Peterborough.  But  the  "  Sayings  of  Alfred,"  which  embodied  E^ZlsH 
the  ideal  of  an  English  king  and  gathered  a  legendary  worship  «»«DK«TTH 
round  the  great  name  of  the  English  past,  show  a  native  ™£  £™> 
literature  going  on  through  the  reign  of  Henry  the  Second.  The 
appearance  of  a  great  work  of  English  verse  coincides  in  point  of  Layamon 
time  with  the  loss  of  Normandy,  and  the  return  of  John  to  his 
island  realm.  "  There  was  a  priest  in  the  land  whose  name  was 
Layamon  ;  he  was  son  of  Leovenath :  may  the  Lord  be 
gracious  to  him  !  He  dwelt  at  Earnley,  a  noble  church  on  the 
bank  of  Severn  (good  it  seemed  to  him ! )  near  Radstone, 
where  he  read  books.  It  came  in  mind  to  him  and  in  his  chiefest 
thought  that  he  would  tell  the  noble  deeds  of  England,  what  the 
men  were  named,  and  whence  they  came,  who  first  had  English 
land."  Journeying  far  and  wide  over  the  land,  the  priest  of 
Earnley  found  Baeda  and  Wace,  the  books  too  of  S.  Albin  and  S. 
Austin.  "  Layamon  laid  down  these  books  and  turned  the  leaves ; 
he  beheld  them  lovingly  :  may  the  Lord  be  gracious  to  him  !  Pen 
he  took  with  fingers  and  wrote  a  book-skin,  and  the  true  words  set 
together,  and  compressed  the  three  books  into  one."  Layamon's 
church  is  nowAreley,  near  Bewdley,  in  Worcestershire.  His  poem 
was  in  fact  an  expansion  of  Wace's  "Brut,"  with  insertions  from 
Baeda.  Historically  it  is  worthless,  but  as  a  monument  of  our  lan- 
guage it  is  beyond  all  price.  After  Norman  and  Angevin  English  re- 
mained unchanged.  In  more  than  thirty  thousand  lines  not  more 
than  fifty  Norman  words  are  to  be  found.  Even  the  old  poetic 
tradition  remains  the  same  ;  the  alliterative  metre  of  the  earlier 
verse  is  only  slightly  affected  by  riming  terminations,  the  similes 
are  the  few  natural  similes  of  Caedmon,  the  battles  are  painted 
with  the  same  rough,  simple  joy.  It  is  by  no  mere  accident  that 
the  English  tongue  thus  wakes  again  into  written  life  on  the  eve  of 
the  great  struggle  between  the  nation  and  its  King.  The 
artificial  forms  imposed  by  the  Conquest  were  falling  away  from 
the  people  as  from  its  literature,  and  a  new  England,  quickened  by 
the  Celtic  vivacity  of  de  Map  and  the  Norman  daring  of  Gerald, 
stood  forth  to  its  conflict  with  John. 


CHAP,  in  THE    GREAT    CHARTER.  23 ! 

SEC.  II 
JOHN 

Section  II.— John,  1204 — 1215  1204 

TO 
1215 

[Authorities.—  Our  chief  sources  of  information  are  the  Chronicle  embodied  — 
in  the  "  Memoriale  "  of  Walter  of  Coventry  ;  and  the  "  Chronicle  of  Roger  of 
Wendover  "  the  first  of  the  published  annalists  of  S.  Alban's,  whose  work  was 
subsequently  revised  and  continued  in  a  more  patriotic  tone  by  another  monk 
of  the  same  abbey,  Matthew  Paris.  The  Annals  of  Waverley,  Dunstable,  and 
Burton  are  important  for  the  period.  The  great  series  of  the  Royal  Rolls  begin 
now  to  be  of  the  highest  value.  The  French  authorities  as  before.  For  Langton, 
see  Hook's  biography  in  the  "Lives  of  the  Archbishops."  The  best  modern 
account  of  this  reign  is  in  Mr.  Pearson's  "  History  of  England, '  vol.  ii.] 

"Foul  as  it  is,  hell  itself  is  defiled  by  the  fouler  presence  of  John 
John."  The  terrible  verdict  of  the  King's  contemporaries  has 
passed  into  the  sober  judgement  of  history.  Externally  John 
possessed  all  the  quickness,  the  vivacity,  the  cleverness,  the  good- 
humour,  the  social  charm  which  distinguished  his  house.  His 
worst  enemies  owned  that  he  toiled  steadily  and  closely  at  the 
work  of  administration.  He  was  fond  of  learned  men  like  Gerald 
of  Wales.  He  had  a  strange  gift  of  attracting  friends  and  of 
winning  the  love  of  women.  But  in  his  inner  soul  John  was  the 
worst  outcome  of  the  Angevins.  He  united  into  one  mass  of 
wickedness  their  insolence,  their  selfishness,  their  unbridled  lust, 
their  cruelty  and  tyranny,  their  shamelessness,  their  superstition, 
their  cynical  indifference  to  honour  or  truth.  In  mere  boyhood  he 
had  torn  with  brutal  levity  the  beards  of  the  Irish  chieftains  who 
came  to  own  him  as  their  lord.  His  ingratitude  and  perfidy  had 
brought  down  his  father  with  sorrow  to  the  grave.  To  his  brother 
he  had  been  the  worst  of  traitors.  All  Christendom  believed  him 
to  be  the  murderer  of  his  nephew  Arthur  of  Britanny.  He 
abandoned  one  wife  and  was  faithless  to  another.  His  punishments 
were  refinements  of  cruelty — the  starvation  of  children,  the  crush- 
ing old  men  under  copes  of  lead.  His  court  was  a  brothel  where 
no  woman  was  safe  from  the  royal  lust,  and  where  his  cynicism 
loved  to  publish  the  news  of  his  victims'  shame.  He  was  as  craven 
in  his  superstition  as  he  was  daring  in  his  impiety.  He  scoffed  at 
priests  and  turned  his  back  on  the  mass  even  amidst  the  solemni- 
ties of  his  coronation,  but  he  never  stirred  on  a  journey  without 
hanging  relics  round  his  neck.  But  with  the  supreme  wickedness 


232  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  ii  of  his  race  he  inherited  its  profound  ability.  His  plan  for  the 
JOHN  relief  of  Chateau-Gaillard,  the  rapid  march  by  which  he  shattered 
"o4  Arthur's  hopes  at  Mirebeau,  showed  an  inborn  genius  for  war.  In 
!^i?  the  rapidity  and  breadth  of  his  political  combinations  he  far 
surpassed  the  statesmen  of  his  time.  Throughout  his  reign  we  see 
him  quick  to  discern  the  difficulties  of  his  position,  and  inexhausti- 
ble in  the  resources  with  which  he  met  them.  The  overthrow  of 
his  continental  power  only  spurred  him  to  the  formation  of  a  great 
league  which  all  but  brought  Philip  to  the  ground  ;  and  the  sudden 
revolt  of  all  England  was  parried  by  a  shameless  alliance  with  the 
Papacy.  The  closer  study  of  John's  history  clears  away  the 
charges  of  sloth  and  incapacity  with  which  men  tried  to  explain 
the  greatness  of  his  fall.  The  awful  lesson  of  his  life  rests  on  the 
fact  that  it  was  no  weak  and  indolent  voluptuary,  but  the  ablest 
and  most  ruthless  of  the  Angevins  who  lost  Normandy,  became 
the  vassal  of  the  Pope,  and  perished  in  a  struggle  of  despair 
against  English  freedom. 

The  The  whole  energies  of  the  King  were  bent  on  the  recovery 

interdict  Qf  ^[s  \os^  dominions  on  the  Continent.  He  impatiently  collected 
money  and  men  for  the  support  of  the  adherents  of  the  House 
of  Anjou  who  were  still  struggling  against  the  arms  of  France 
in  Poitou  and  Guienne,  and  had  assembled  an  army  at  Portsmouth 
in  the  summer  of  1205,  when  his  project  was  suddenly  thwarted 
by  the  resolute  opposition  of  the  Primate  and  the  Earl  of  Pem- 
broke, William  Marshal.  So  completely  had  both  the  baronage 
and  the  Church  been  humbled  by  his  father,  that  the  attitude  of 
their  representatives  indicated  the  new  spirit  of  national  freedom 
which  was  rising  around  the  King.  John  at  once  braced  himself 
to  a  struggle  with  it.  The  death  of  Hubert  Walter,  a  few  weeks 
after  his  protest,  enabled  him,  as  it  seemed,  to  neutralize  the 
opposition  of  the  Church  by  placing  a  creature  of  his  own  at  its 
head.  John  de  Grey,  Bishop  of  Norwich,  was  elected  by  the 
monks  of  Canterbury  at  his  bidding  and  enthroned  as  Primate. 
In  a  previous  though  informal  gathering,  however,  the  convent 
had  already  chosen  its  sub-prior,  Reginald,  as  Archbishop,  and  the 
rival  claimants  hastened  to  appeal  to  Rome  ;  but  the  result  of 
their  appeal  was  a  startling  one  both  for  themselves  and  for  the 
King.  Innocent  the  Third,  who  now  occupied  the  Papal  throne, 


"i  THE    GREAT    CHARTER  233 

had  pushed  its  claims  of  supremacy  over  Christendom  further  than  SEC.  n 
any  of  his  predecessors  :  after  a  careful  examination  he  quashed  both  J^T* 
the  contested  elections.  The  decision  was  probably  a  just  one  ;  '^o4 
but  Innocent  did  not  stop  there;  whether  from  love  of  power,  or,  I2'5 
as  may  fairly  be  supposed,  in  despair  of  a  free  election  within 
English  bounds,  he  commanded  the  monks  who  appeared  before 
him  to  elect  in  his  presence  Stephen  Langton  to  the  archiepiscopal 
see.  Personally  a  better  choice  could  not  have  been  made,  for 
Stephen  was  a  man  who  by  sheer  weight  of  learning  and  holiness 
of  life  had  risen  to  the  dignity  of  Cardinal,  and  whose  after  career 
placed  him  in  the  front  rank  of  English  patriots.  But  in  itself 
the  step  was  an  usurpation  of  the  rights  both  of  the  Church  and 
of  the  Crown.  The  King  at  once  met  it  with  resistance,  and 
replied  to  the  Papal  threats  of  interdict  if  Langton  were  any 
longer  excluded  from  his  see,  by  a  counter  threat  that  the  interdict 
should  be  followed  by  the  banishment  of  the  clergy  and  the 
mutilation  of  every  Italian  he  could  seize  in  the  realm.  Innocent,  1208 
however,  was  not  a  man  to  draw  back  from  his  purpose,  and  the 
interdict  fell  at  last  upon  the  land.  All  worship  save  that  of 
a  few  privileged  orders,  all  administration  of  the  Sacraments  save 
that  of  private  baptism,  ceased  over  the  length  and  breadth  of 
the  country :  the  church-bells  were  silent,  the  dead  lay  unburied 
on  the  ground.  The  King  replied  by  confiscating  the  lands  of  the 
clergy  who  observed  the  interdict,  by  subjecting  them  in  spite  of 
their  privileges  to  the  royal  courts,  and  often  by  leaving  outrages 
on  them  unpunished.  "  Let  him  go,"  said  John,  when  a  Welshman 
was  brought  before  him  for  the  murder  of  a  priest,  "  he  has  killed 
my  enemy ! "  A  year  passed  before  the  Pope  proceeded  to  the 
further  sentence  of  excommunication.  John  was  now  formally  cut 
off  from  the  pale  of  the  Church  ;  but  the  new  sentence  was  met 
with  the  same  defiance  as  the  old.  Five  of  the  bishops  fled  over 
sea,  and  secret  disaffection  was  spreading  widely,  but  there  was 
no  public  avoidance  of  the  excommunicated  King.  An  Arch- 
deacon of  Norwich  who  withdrew  from  his  service  was  crushed 
to  death  under  a  cope  of  lead,  and  the  hint  was  sufficient  to  prevent 
either  prelate  or  noble  from  following  his  example.  Though  the 
King  stood  alone,  with  nobles  estranged  from  him  and  the  Church 
against  him,  his  strength  seemed  utterly  unbroken.  From  the  first 


234  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP 

SEC.  ii      moment  of  his  rule  John  had  defied  the  baronage.     The  promise 

JOHN       to  satisfy  their  demand  for  redress  of  wrongs  in  the  past  reign,  a 

TO        promise   made    at   his   election,   remained    unfulfilled ;   when   the 

121  ? 

demand  was  repeated  he  answered  it  by  seizing  their  castles  and 
taking  their  children  as  hostages  for  their  loyalty.  The  cost  of 
his  fruitless  threats  of  war  had  been  met  by  heavy  and  repeated 
taxation.  The  quarrel  with  the  Church  and  fear  of  their  revolt 
only  deepened  his  oppression  of  the  nobles.  He  drove  De  Braose, 
one  of  the  most  powerful  of  the  Lords  Marchers,  to  die  in  exile, 
while  his  wife  and  grandchildren  were  believed  to  have  been 
starved  to  death  in  the  royal  prisons.  On  the  nobles  who  still 
clung  panic-stricken  to  the  court  of  the  excommunicate  king 
John  heaped  outrages  worse  than  death.  Illegal  exactions,  the 
seizure  of  their  castles,  the  preference  shown  to  foreigners,  were 
small  provocations  compared  with  his  attacks  on  the  honour  of 
their  wives  and  daughters.  But  the  baronage  still  submitted  ;  and 
the  King's  vigour  was  seen  by  the  rapidity  with  which  he  crushed 
a  rising  of  the  nobles  in  Ireland,  and  foiled  an  outbreak  of  the 
Welsh.  Hated  as  he  was  the  land  remained  still.  Only  one 
weapon  now  remained  in  Innocent's  hands.  An  excommunicate 
king  had  ceased  to  be  a  Christian,  or  to  have  claims  on  the 
obedience  of  Christian  subjects.  As  spiritual  heads  of  Christ- 
endom, the  Popes  had  ere  now  asserted  their  right  to  remove  such 
a  ruler  from  his  throne  and  to  give  it  to  a  worthier  than  he  ;  and 
this  right  Innocent  at  last  felt  himself  driven  to  exercise.  He 

John's     issued  a  bull '  of  deposition   against  John,  proclaimed    a  crusade 

1212°"  agamst   mm,  and   committed    the   execution    of  his  sentence   to 

Philip  of  France.     John  met  it  with   the  same  scorn   as  before. 

His  insolent  disdain  suffered  the  Roman  legate,  Cardinal  Pandulf, 

to    proclaim   his   deposition    to    his    face   at   Northampton.      An 

enormous  army  gathered  at  his  call  on  Barham  Down  ;  and  the 

English   fleet   dispelled    all   danger   of  invasion    by  crossing   the 

Channel,  by  capturing  a  number  of  French  ships,  and  by  burning 

Dieppe. 

The  But   it   was   not  in   England   only  that  the    King  showed    his 

vassal  strength  and  activity.  Vile  as  he  was,  John  possessed  in  a  high 
degree  the  political  ability  of  his  race,  and  in  the  diplomatic  efforts 
with  which  he  met  the  danger  from  France  he  showed  himself  his 


Ill 


THE    GREAT    CHARTER 


235 


father's  equal.  The  barons  of  Poitou  were  roused  to  attack  Philip 
from  the  south.  John  bought  the  aid  of  the  Count  of  Flanders  on 
his  northern  border.  The  German  King,  Otto,  pledged  himself 
to  bring  the  knighthood  of  Germany  to  support  an  invasion  of 
France.  But  at  the  moment  of  his  success  in  diplomacy  John 
suddenly  gave  way.  It  was  in  fact  the  revelation  of  a  danger  at 
home  which  shook  him  from  his  attitude  of  contemptuous  defiance. 
The  bull  of  deposition  gave  fresh  energy  to  every  enemy.  The 
Scotch  King  was  in  correspondence  with  Innocent.  The  Welsh 
Princes  who  had  just  been  forced 
to  submission  broke  out  again  in 
war.  John  hanged  their  hostages, 
and  called  his  host  to  muster  for 
a  fresh  inroad  into  Wales,  but  the 
army  met  only  to  become  a  fresh 
source  of  danger.  Powerless  to 
resist  openly,  the  baronage  had 
plunged  almost  to  a  man  into 
secret  conspiracies  ;  many  pro- 
mised aid  to  Philip  on  his  land- 
ing. John,  in  the  midst  of  hidden 
enemies,  was  only  saved  by  the 
haste  with  which  he  disbanded 
his  army  and  took  refuge  in 
Nottingham  Castle.  His  daring 
self-confidence,  the  skill  of  his 
diplomacy,  could  no  longer  hide 
from  him  the  utter  loneliness  of 
his  position.  At  war  with  Rome, 

with  France,  with  Scotland,  Ireland  and  Wales,  at  war  with 
the  Church,  he  saw  himself  disarmed  by  this  sudden  revelation 
of  treason  in  the  one  force  left  at  his  disposal.  With  char- 
acteristic suddenness  he  gave  way.  He  endeavoured  by  remis- 
sion of  fines  to  win  back  his  people.  He  negotiated  eagerly 
with  the  Pope,  consented  to  receive  the  Archbishop,  and  promised 
to  repay  the  money  he  had  extorted  from  the  Church.  The 
shameless  ingenuity  of  the  King's  temper  was  seen  in  his  immedi- 
ate resolve  to  make  Rome  his  ally,  to  turn  its  spiritual  thunder 


KNIGHT      AND      SLINGER. 

Early  Thirteenth  Century. 

MS.  Roy.  i  D.  x. 


SEC.  II 

JOHN 
1204 

TO 
1215 


236 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  II 

JOHN 
1204 

TO 
1215 


against  his  foes,  to  use  it  in  breaking  up  the  confederacy  it  had 
formed  against  him.  His  quick  versatile  temper  saw  the  momen- 
tary gain  to  be  won.  On  the  I5th  of  May  1213  he  knelt  before 
the  legate  Pandulf,  surrendered  his  kingdom  to  the  Roman  See, 
took  it  back  again  as  a  tributary  vassal,  swore  fealty,  and  did  liege 
homage  to  the  Pope. 

The  In  after  times  men  believed  that  England  thrilled  at  the  news 

Battle  of 
Bouvines  with  a  sense  of  national  shame  such  as  she  had  never  felt  before. 

"  He  has  become  the  Pope's  man,"  the  whole  country  was  said  to 
have  murmured  ;  "  he  has  forfeited  the  very  name  of  King  ;  from 
a  free  man  he  has  degraded  himself  into  a  serf."  But  we  see 
little  trace  of  such  a"  feeling  in  the  contemporary  accounts  of  the 


KING    OF    FRANCE    UNHORSED    AT    BOUVINES. 

Drawn    by    Matthew    Paris. 

MS.  C.C.C.  Camb.  xi-i. 

time.  As  a  political  measure  indeed  the  success  of  John's  sub- 
mission was  complete.  The  French  army  at  once  broke  up  in 
impotent  rage,  and  when  Philip  turned  against  the  enemy  whom 
John  had  raised  up  for  him  in  Flanders,  five  hundred  English 
ships  under  the  Earl  of  Salisbury  fell  upon  the  fleet  which  accom- 
panied his  army  along  the  coast  and  utterly  destroyed  it.  The 
league  which  John  had  so  long  matured  at  last  disclosed  itself. 
The  King  himself  landed  in  Poitou,  rallied  its  nobles  round  him, 
crossed  the  Loire  in  triumph,  and  won  back  Angers,  the  home 
of  his  race.  At  the  same  time  Otto,  reinforcing  his  German  army 
by  the  knighthood  of  Flanders  and  Boulogne  as  well  as  by  a  body 
of  English  troops,  threatened  France  from  the  north.  For  the 
moment  Philip  seemed  lost,  and  yet  on  the  fortunes  of  Philip  hung 
the  fortunes  of  English  freedom.  But  in  this  crisis  of  her  fate 
France  was  true  to  herself  and  her  King ;  the  townsmen  marched 


Ill 


THE  GREAT  CHARTER 


237 


JOHN 
1204 

TO 
1215 

1214 


from  every  borough  to  Philip's  rescue,  priests  led  their  flocks  to  SEC.  n 
battle  with  the  Church  banners  flying  at  their  head.  The  two 
armies  met  near  the  bridge  of  Bouvines,  between  Lille  and 
Tournay,  and  from  the  first  the  day  went  against  the  allies.  The 
Flemish  were  the  first  to  fly  ;  then  the  Germans  in  the  centre  were 
overwhelmed  by  the  numbers  of  the  French ;  last  of  all  the 
English  on  the  right  were  broken  by  a  fierce  onset  of  the  Bishop  of 
Beauvais,  who  charged  mace  in  hand  and  struck  the  Earl  of 
Salisbury  to  the  ground.  The  news  of  this  complete  overthrow 
reached  John  in  the  midst  of  his  triumphs  in  the  South,  and 
scattered  his  hopes  to  the  winds.  He  was  at  once  deserted  by  the 
Poitevin  nobles,  and  a  hasty  retreat  alone  enabled  him  to  return, 
baffled  and  humiliated,  to  his  island  kingdom. 

It  is  to  the  victory  of  Bouvines  that  England  owes  her  Great    Stephen 


Charter.  From  the  hour  of  his 
John's  vengeance  on  the 
barons  had  only  been 
delayed  till  he  should 
return  a  conqueror  from 
the  fields  of  France.  A 
sense  of  their  danger 
nerved  the  baronage  to 
resistance  ;  they  refused 
to  follow  the  King  on  his 
foreign  campaign  till  the 
excommunication  were 
removed,  and  when  it  was 
removed  they  still  refused, 
on  the  plea  that  they  were 
not  bound  to  serve  in  wars 
without  the  realm.  Furi- 
ous as  he  was  at  this 
new  attitude  of  resistance, 
the  time  had  not  yet  come 
for  vengeance,  and  John 
sailed  for  Poitou  with 
the  dream  of  a  great 
victory  which  should  lay- 


submission    to    the   Papacy, 


Langton 


SEAL    OF    STEPHEN    LANGTON. 
British  Museum. 


238  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  ii      Philip  and  the  barons  alike   at  his  feet.     He  returned    from  his 
JOHN       defeat  to   find  the    nobles  no  longer   banded    together   in    secret 
"o4       conspiracies,   but   openly   united    in    a   definite    claim    of    liberty 
Iflr       and   law.     The  leader  in  this  great  change  was  the  new  Arch- 
bishop  whom    Innocent  had   set   on    the   throne  of   Canterbury. 
From  the  moment  of  his  landing  in  England,  Stephen  Langton 
had    assumed    the    constitutional    position    of    the    Primate    as 
champion  of  the  old   English  customs  and  law  against  the  per- 
sonal despotism  of  the  Kings.     As  Anselm  had  withstood  William 
the  Red,  as  Theobald   had  rescued    England    from   the  lawless- 
ness of  Stephen,  so  Langton  prepared   to  withstand  and  rescue 
his  country  from  the  tyranny  of  John.     He  had  already  forced 
him  to  swear  to  observe   the   laws  of  the    Confessor,   a    phrase 
in  which  the  whole  of   the  national  liberties  were  summed    up. 
When  the  baronage  refused  to  sail  to  Poitou,  he  compelled  the 
King    to    deal    with    them    not  by  arms  but  by  process  of  law. 
Far  however  from  being  satisfied  with  resistance  such  as  this  to 
isolated  acts  of  tyranny,  it  was  the  Archbishop's  aim  to  restore  on 
a  formal  basis  the  older  freedom  of  the  realm.     The  pledges  of 
Henry   the   First   had   long  been    forgotten   when   the   Justiciar, 
Geoffrey  Fitz-Peter,  brought  them  to  light  at  a  Council  held  at  S. 
Albans.      There  in  the  King's  name  the  Justiciar  promised  good 
government  for  the  time  to  come,  and  forbade  all  royal  officers  to 
practise  extortion  as  they  prized  life  and  limb.     The  King's  peace 
was  pledged  to  those  who  had  opposed  him  in  the  past ;  and  ob- 
servance of  the  laws  of  Henry  the  First  was  enjoined  upon  all  within 
the  realm.     Langton  saw  the  vast  importance  of  such  a  precedent. 
In  a  fresh  meeting  of  the  barons  at  S.   Paul's  he  produced  the 
Charter  of  Henry  the  First,  and  it  was  at  once  welcomed  as  a  base 
for  the  needed  reforms.     All  hope  however  hung  on  the  fortunes  of 
the  French  campaign  ;  the  victory  at  Bouvines  gave  strength  to 
John's  opponents,  and  after  the  King's  landing  the  barons  secretly 
met  at  S.  Edmundsbury,  and  swore  to  demand  from  him,  if  need- 
ful by  force  of  arms,  the  restoration  of  their  liberties  by  Charter 
under  the  King's  seal.       Early  in  January  in  the  year  1215  they 
presented  themselves  in  arms  before  the  King,  and  preferred  their 
claim.     The  few  months  that  followed  showed  John  the  uselessness 
of  resistance  ;  nobles  and  Churchmen  were  alike  arrayed  against 


Ill 


THE    GREAT    CHARTER 


him,  and  the  commissioners  whom  he  sent  to  plead  his  cause  at  the 
shire-courts  brought  back  the  news  that  no  man  would  help  him 
against  the  Charter.  At  Easter  the  barons  again  gathered  in 
arms  at  Brackley,  and  renewed  their  claim.  "  Why  do  they  not 
ask  for  my  kingdom  ? "  cried  John  in  a  burst  of  passion  ;  but 
the  whole  country  rose  as  one  man  at  his  refusal.  London  threw 
open  her  gates  to  the  forces  of  the  barons,  now  organised  under 
Robert  Fitz- Walter  as  "  Marshal  of  the  Army  of  God  and  Holy 


SEC.  II 

JOHN 
1204 

TO 
I2I5 


SEAL    OF    ROBERT    FITZ-WALTER. 
British  Museum. 


Church."  The  example  of  the  capital  was  followed  by  Exeter  and 
Lincoln  ;  promises  of  aid  came  from  Scotland  and  Wales  ;  the 
northern  barons  marched  hastily  to  join  their  comrades  in  London. 
There  was  a  moment  when  John  found  himself  with  seven  knights 
at  his  back  and  before  him  a  nation  in  arms.  He  had  summoned 
mercenaries  and  appealed  to  his  liege  lord,  the  Pope :  but  summons 
and  appeals  were  alike  too  late.  Nursing  wrath  in  his  heart  the 
tyrant  bowed  to  necessity,  and  called  the  barons  to  a  conference 
at  Runnymede. 


240  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE         CHAP,  in 


SEC.  Ill 

THE  GREAT 
CHARTER 

1215  Section  III. — The    Great   Charter,  1215 — 1217 

TO 
1217 

\Authorities, — The  text  of  the  Charter  is  given  by  Dr  Stubbs,  with  valuable 
comments,  in  his  "  Select  Charters."    Mr.  Pearson  gives  a  useful  analysis  of  it.] 

I2I5  An  island  in  the  Thames  between  Staines  and  Windsor  had 

June  15 

been  chosen  as  the  place  of  conference  :  the  King  encamped  on 
one  bank,  while  the  barons  covered  the  marshy  flat,  still  known  by 
the  name  of  Runnymede,  on  the  other.  Their  delegates  met  in 
the  island  between  them,  but  the  negotiations  were  a  mere  cloak 
to  cover  John's  purpose  of  unconditional  submission.  The  Great 
Charter  was  discussed,  agreed  to,  and  signed  in  a  single  day. 

One  copy  of  it  still  remains  in  the  British  Museum,  injured  by 
age  and  fire,  but  with  the  royal  seal  still  hanging  from  the  brown, 
shrivelled  parchment.     It  is  impossible  to  gaze  without  reverence 
on  the  earliest  monument  of  English  freedom  which  we  can  see 
with  our  own  eyes  and  touch  with  our  own  hands,  the  great  Charter 
to  which  from  age  to  age  patriots  have  looked  back  as  the  basis  of 
English  liberty.     But  in  itself  the  Charter  was  no  novelty,  nor  did 
it   claim   to   establish    any    new   constitutional    principles.      The 
Charter  of  Henry  the  First  formed  the  basis  of  the  whole,  and  the 
additions  to  it  are  for  the  most  part  formal  recognitions  of  the 
judicial   and    administrative  changes    introduced    by    Henry    the 
Second.     But  the  vague  expressions  of  the  older  charter  were  now 
exchanged   for  precise   and    elaborate  provisions.     The  bonds   of 
unwritten    custom    which   the   older   grant   did    little    more   than 
recognize  had   proved  too  weak  to  hold  the  Angevins  ;  and  the 
baronage  now  threw  them  aside  for  the  restraints  of  written  law. 
It  is  in  this  way  that  the  Great  Charter  marks  the  transition  from 
the  age  of  traditional  rights,  preserved  in  the  nation's  memory  and 
officially  declared  by  the  Primate,  to  the  age  of  written  legislation, 
of  Parliaments  and  Statutes,  which  was  soon  to  come.  The  Church 
had  shown  its  power  of  self-defence  in  the  struggle  over  the  inter- 
dict, and  the  clause  which  recognized  its  rights  alone  retained  the 
older  and  general  form.     But  all  vagueness  ceases  when  the  Charter 
passes  on  to  deal  with  the  rights  of  Englishmen  at  large,  their 
right   to  justice,  to    security   of    person    and    property,   to   good 


r 


u 

I 

t* 

1 

h 


u 
V 

* 

\ 

P 

I 


VOL.  I 


242  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  in     government.     "  No  freeman,"  ran  the  memorable  article  that  lies  at 
THE  GREAT  the  base  of  our  whole  judicial  system,  "  shall  be  seized  or  imprisoned, 

CHARTER 

1215  or  dispossessed,  or  outlawed,  or  in  any  way  brought  to  ruin  :  we  will 
1217  not  go  against  any  man  nor  send  against  him,  save  by  legal 
judgement  of  his  peers  or  by  the  law  of  the  land."  "  To  no  man 
will  we  sell,"  runs  another,  "  or  deny,  or  delay,  right  or  justice." 
The  great  reforms  of  the  past  reigns  were  now  formally  recognized  ; 
judges  of  assize  were  to  hold  their  circuits  four  times  in  the  year, 
and  the  King's  Court  was  no  longer  to  follow  the  King  in  his 
wanderings  over  the  realm,  but  to  sit  in  a  fixed  place.  But  the 
denial  of  justice  under  John  was  a  small  danger  compared  with  the 
lawless  exactions  both  of  himself  and  his  predecessor.  Richard 
had  increased  the  amount  of  the  scutage  which  Henry  the  Second 
had  introduced,  and  applied  it  to  raise  funds  for  his  ransom.  He 
had  restored  the  Danegeld,  or  land-tax,  so  often  abolished,  under 
the  new  name  of  "  carucage,"  had  seized  the  wool  of  the  Cistercians 
and  the  plate  of  the  churches,  and  rated  moveables  as  well  as  land. 
John  had  again  raised  the  rate  of  scutage,  and  imposed  aids,  fines, 
and  ransoms  at  his  pleasure  without  counsel  of  the  baronage. 
The  Great  Charter  met  this  abuse  by  the  provision  on  which  our 
constitutional  system  rests.  With  the  exception  of  the  three 
customary  feudal  aids  which  still  remained  to  the  Crown,  "  no 
scutage  or  aid  shall  be  imposed  in  our  realm  save  by  the  common 
council  pf  the  realm  ; "  and  to  this  Great  Council  it  was  provided 
that  prelates  and  the  greater  barons  should  be  summoned  by 
special  writ,  and  all  tenants  in  chief  through  the  sheriffs  and 
bailiffs,  at  least  forty  days  before.  The  provision  defined  what  had 
probably  been  the  common  usage  of  the  realm  ;  but  the  definition 
turned  it  into  a  national  right,  a  right  so  momentous  that  on  it 
rests  our  whole  Parliamentary  life. 

The  The    rights   which    the    barons    claimed    for   themselves    they 

c^frt*r    claimed  for  the  nation  at  large.       The  boon  of  free  and  unbought 

People    justice  was  a  boon  for  all,  but  a  special  provision  protected  the  poor. 

The  forfeiture  of  the  freeman  on  conviction  of  felony  was  never  to 

include  his  tenement,  or  that  of  the  merchant  his  wares,  or  that  of 

the  countryman  his  wain.     The  means  of  actual  livelihood  were  to 

be  left  even  to  the  worst.     The  under-tenants   or  farmers   were 

protected   against  all  lawless  exactions  of  their  lords  in  precisely 


Ill 


THE    GREAT    CHARTER 


243 


TO 
1217 


the  same  terms  as  these  were  protected  against  the  lawless  ex-      SEC.  in 
actions  of  the  Crown.     The  towns  were  secured   in  the  enjoyment  T"E  GREAT 

J    J  CHARTER 

of  their  municipal  privileges,  their  freedom  from  arbitrary  taxation,        1215 
their  rights  of  justice,  of   common  deliberation,    of  regulation  of 
trade.      "  Let  the  city  of  London  have  all  its  old  liberties  and  its 
free  customs,  as  well  by  land  as  by 
water.     Besides  this,  we  will   and 
grant    that    all    other    cities,   and 
boroughs,  and    towns,  and    ports, 
have    all    their   liberties    and    free 
customs."      The    influence   of    the 
trading  class  is  seen  in  two  other 
enactments,  by  which  freedom  of 
journeying  and  trade  was  secured 
to  foreign  merchants,  and   an  uni- 
formity of  weights  and   measures 
was  ordered  to  be  enforced  through- 
out  the   realm.      There  remained 
only   one   question,  and    that   the 
most  difficult  of  all  ;   the  question 
how  to  secure  this  order  which  the 
Charter    had    established    in    the 
actual   government    of   the  realm. 
The  immediate  abuses  were  easily 
swept  away,  the  hostages  restored 
to  their  homes,  the  foreigners  ban- 
ished   from   the    country.      But   it 
was    less    easy  to   provide    means 
for  the  control  of  a  King  whom 
no  man  could  trust,  and  a  coun- 
cil   of    twenty-five    barons     were 
chosen  from  the  general  body  of 
their  order  to  enforce  on  John  the 

observance  of  the  Charter,  with  the  right  of  declaring  war  on  the 
King   should    its    provisions   be   infringed.      Finally,   the   Charter 
was  published    throughout  the    whole    country,   and    sworn   to  at 
every  hundred-mote  and  town-mote,  by  order  from  the  King. 
"  They  have  given  me  five-and-twenty  over-kings,"  cried  John 


EFFIGY  OF  JOHN,    OX   HIS  TOMB 
IN    WORCESTER    CATHEDRAL. 


244  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  in  in  a  burst  of  fury,  flinging  himself  on  the  floor  and  gnawing  sticks 
THE  GREAT  and  straw  in  his  impotent  rage.  But  the  rage  soon  passed  into  the 
1215  subtle  policy  of  which  he  was  a  master.  Some  days  after  he  left 
1217  Windsor,  and  lingered  for  months  along  the  southern  shore,  wait- 
John  ing  for  news  of  the  aid  he  had  solicited  from  Rome  and  from  the 
Charter  Continent.  It  was  not  without  definite  purpose  that  he  had 
become  the  vassal  of  Rome.  While  Innocent  was  dreaming  of  a 
vast  Christian  Empire  with  the  Pope  at  its  head  to  enforce  justice 
and  religion  on  his  under-kings,  John  believed  that  the  Papal 
protection  would  enable  him  to  rule  as  tyrannically  as  he  would. 
The  thunders  of  the  Papacy  were  to  be  ever  at  hand  for  his 
protection,  as  the  armies  of  England  are  at  hand  to  protect  the 
vileness  and  oppression  of  a  Turkish  Sultan  or  a  Nizam  of 
Hyderabad.  His  envoys  were  already  at  Rome,  and  Innocent, 
indignant  that  a  matter  which  might  have  been  brought  before  his 
court  of  appeal  as  overlord  should  have  been  dealt  with  by  armed 
revolt,  annulled  the  Great  Charter  and  suspended  Stephen  Langton 
from  the  exercise  of  his  office  as  Primate.  Autumn  brought  a 
host  of  foreign  soldiers  from  over  sea  to  the  King's  standard,  and 
advancing  against  the  disorganised  forces  of  the  barons,  John 
starved  Rochester  into  submission  and  marched  ravaging  through 
the  midland  counties  to  the  North,  while  his  mercenaries  spread 
like  locusts  over  the  whole  face  of  the  land.  From  Berwick  the 
King  turned  back  triumphant  to  coop  up  his  enemies  in  London, 
while  fresh  Papal  excommunications  fell  on  the  barons  and  the 
city.  But  the  burghers  set  Innocent  at  defiance.  "  The  ordering  of 
secular  matters  appertaineth  not  to  the  Pope,"  they  said,  in  words 
that  seem  like  mutterings  of  the  coming  Lollardry  ;  and  at  the 
advice  of  Simon  Langton,  the  Archbishop's  brother,  bells  swung 
out  and  mass  was  celebrated  as  before.  With  the  undisciplined 
militia  of  the  country  and  the  towns,  however,  success  was  impos- 
sible against  the  trained  forces  of  the  King,  and  despair  drove 
the  barons  to  seek  aid  from  France.  Philip  had  long  been  waiting 
the  opportunity  for  his  revenge  upon  John,  and  his  son  Lewis  at 
once  accepted  the  crown  in  spite  of  Innocent's  excommunications, 
and  landed  in  Kent  with  a  considerable  force.  As  the  barons 
had  foreseen,  the  French  mercenaries  who  constituted  John's  host 
refused  to  fight  against  the  French  sovereign.  The  whole  aspect 


Ill 


THE    GREAT    CHARTER 


245 


of  affairs  was   suddenly   reversed.      Deserted   by  the  bulk  of  his      SEC.  in 


The  Earl 
Marshal 


WILLIAM     MARSHAL,    FROM    HIS    TOMB 
IN   THE  TEMPLE  CHURCH,    LONDON. 


were    as     yet    declared    to    be 


troops,  the  King  was   forced   to  THE  GREAT 

CHARTER 

fall  rapidly  back  on  the  Welsh  1215 
Marches,  while  his  rival  entered  1217 
London,  and  received  the  sub- 
mission of  the  larger  part  of 
England.  Only  Dover  held  out 
obstinately  against  Lewis.  By 
a  series  of  rapid  marches  John 
succeeded  in  distracting  the  plans 
of  the  barons  and  in  relieving 
Lincoln  ;  then  after  a  short  stay 
at  Lynn  he  crossed  the  Wash  in 
a  fresh  movement  to  the  north. 
In  crossing,  however,  his  army 
was  surprised  by  the  tide,  and 
his  baggage  with  the  royal 
treasures  washed  away. 

The  fever  which  seized  the 
baffled  tyrant  in  the  abbey  of 
Swineshead  was  inflamed  by  a 
gluttonous  debauch,  and  John 
entered  Newark  only  to  die.  His 
death  changed  the  whole  face  of 
affairs,  for  his  son  Henry  was  but 
a  child  of  nine  years  old,  and 
the  royal  authority  passed  into 
the  hands  of  one  who  stands 
high  among  English  patriots, 
William  Marshal.  The  boy-king 
was  hardly  crowned  when  the 
Earl  and  the  Papal  Legate  issued 
in  his  name  the  very  Charter 
against  which  his  father  had 
died  fighting ;  only  the  clauses 
which  regulated  taxation  and 
the  summoning  of  Parliament 
suspended.  The  nobles  soon 


.246  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  in     streamed  away  from  the  French  camp  ;  for  national  jealousy  and 

"HA^TERT  suspici°ns  °f  treason   told   heavily  against   Lewis,  while  the  pity 

1215       which  was  excited  by  the  youth  and  helplessness  of  Henry  was 

TO 

1217       aided   by  a  sense  of  injustice  in   burthening  the  child  with  the 

iniquity   of    his  father.     One   bold    stroke    of    William    Marshal 

decided  the  struggle.     A  joint  army  of  French  and  English  barons 

under  the  Count  of  Perche  and  Robert  Fitz-Walter  was  besieging 

Fair  of     Lincoln,  when  the   Earl,  rapidly  gathering  forces  from  the  royal 

1217  castles,  marched  to  its  relief.  Cooped  up  in  the  steep  narrow 
streets,  and  attacked  at  once  by  the  Earl  and  the  garrison,  the 
barons  fled  in  hopeless  rout ;  the  Count  of  Perche  fell  on  the  field  ; 
Robert  Fitz-Walter  was  taken  prisoner.  Lewis,  who  was  investing 
.  Dover,  retreated  to  London,  and  called  for  aid  from  France.  But 
a  more  terrible  defeat  crushed  his  remaining  hopes.  A  small 
English  fleet,  which  had  set  sail  from  Dover  under  Hubert  de 
Burgh,  fell  boldly  on  the  reinforcements  which  were  crossing  under 
the  escort  of  Eustace  the  Monk,  a  well-known  freebooter  of  the 
Channel.  The  fight  admirably  illustrates  the  naval  warfare  of 
the  time.  From  the  decks  of  the  English  vessels  bowmen  poured 
their  arrows  into  the  crowded  transports,  others  hurled  quicklime 
into  their  enemies'  faces,  while  the  more  active  vessels  crashed  with 
their  armed  prows  into  the  sides  of  the  French  ships.  The  skill  of 
the  mariners  of  the  Cinque  Ports  decided  the  day  against  the 
larger  forces  of  their  opponents,  and  the  fleet  of  Eustace  was 
utterly  destroyed.  The  royal  army  at  once  closed  in  upon  London, 
but  resistance  was  really  at  an  end.  By  the  treaty  of  Lambeth 
Lewis  promised  to  withdraw  from  England  on  payment  of  a  sum 
which  he  claimed  as  debt  ;  his  adherents  were  restored  to  their 
possessions,  the  liberties  of  London  and  other  towns  con- 
firmed, and  the  prisoners  on  either  side  set  at  liberty.  The 
expulsion  of  the  stranger  left  English  statesmen  free  to  take  up 
again  the  work  of  reform  ;  and  a  fresh  issue  of  the  Charter,  though 
in  its  modified  form,  proclaimed  clearly  the  temper  and  policy  of 
the  Earl  Marshal. 


i"  THE    GREAT    CHARTER  247 

SEC.  IV 

Section  IV — The    Universities  UM"«- 

SITIES 

[Authorities.— For  the  Universities  we  have  the  collection  of  materials  edited 
by  Mr.  Anstey  under  the  name  of  "  Munimenta  Academica."  I  have  borrowed 
much  from  two  papers  of  my  own  in  "  Macmillan's  Magazine,"  on  "  The  Early 
History  of  Oxford."  For  Bacon,  see  his  "  Opera  Inedita,"  in  the  Rolls  Series, 
with  Mr.  Brewer's  admirable  introduction,  and  Dr.  Whewell's  estimate  of  him 
in  his  "  History  of  the  Inductive  Sciences.''] 

From  the  turmoil  of  civil  politics  we  turn  to  the  more  silent 
but  hardly  less  important  revolution  from  which  we  may  date  our 
national  education.  It  is  in  the  reign  of  Henry  the  Third  that  the 
English  universities  begin  to  exercise  a  definite  influence  on  the 
intellectual  life  of  Englishmen.  Of  the  early  history  of  Cambridge 
we  know  little  or  nothing,  but  enough  remains  to  enable  us  to  trace 
the  early  steps  by  which  Oxford  attained  to  its  intellectual 
eminence.  The  establishment  of  the  great  schools  which  bore  the 
name  of  Universities  was  everywhere  throughout  Europe  a  special 
mark  of  the  new  impulse  that  Christendom  had  gained  from  the 
Crusades.  A  new  fervour  of  study  sprang  up  in  the  West  from  its 
contact  with  the  more  cultured  East.  Travellers  like  Adelard  of 
Bath  brought  back  the  first  rudiments  of  physical  and  mathemati- 
cal science  from  the  schools  of  Cordova  or  Bagdad.  In  the  twelfth 
century  a  classical  revival  restored  Caesar  and  Vergil  to  the  list  of 
monastic  studies,  and  left  its  stamp  on  the  pedantic  style,  the 
profuse  classical  quotations  of  writers  like  William  of  Malmesbury 
or  John  of  Salisbury.  The  scholastic  philosophy  sprang  up  in  the 
schools  of  Paris.  The  Roman  law  was  revived  by  the  imperialist 
doctors  of  Bologna.  The  long  mental  inactivity  of  feudal  Europe 
broke  up  like  ice  before  a  summer's  sun.  Wandering  teachers 
such  as  Lanfranc  or  Anselm  crossed  sea  and  land  to  spread  the 
new  power  of  knowledge.  The  same  spirit  of  restlessness,  of 
inquiry,  of  impatience  with  the  older  traditions  of  mankind,  either 
local  or  intellectual,  that  had  hurried  half  Christendom  to  the  tomb 
of  its  Lord,  crowded  the  roads  with  thousands  of  young  scholars 
hurrying  to  the  chosen  seats  where  teachers  were  gathered  together. 
A  new  power  had  sprung  up  in  the  midst  of  a  world  as  yet  under 
the  rule  of  sheer  brute  force.  Poor  as  they  were,  sometimes 
even  of  servile  race,  the  wandering  scholars  who  lectured  in  every 


248 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE        CHAP,  in 


SEC.  IV 

THE 
UNIVER- 
SITIES 


cloister  were  hailed  as  "  masters "  by  the  crowds  at  their  feet. 
Abelard  was  a  foe  worthy  of  the  menaces  of  councils,  of  the 
thunders  of  the  Church.  The  teaching  of  a  single  Lombard  was  of 
note  enough  in  England  to  draw  down  the  prohibition  of  a  King. 
When  Vacarius,  probably  a  guest  in  the  court  of  Archbishop 
Theobald,  where  Beket  and  John  of  Salisbury  were  already  busy 
with  the  study  of  the  Civil  Law,  opened  lectures  on  it  at  Oxford, 
he  was  at  once  silenced  by  Stephen,  who  was  then  at  war  with  the 
Church,  and  jealous  of  the  power  which  the  wreck  of  the  royal 
authority  was  throwing  into  Theobald's  hands. 


EARLY    OXFORO 


Oxford  At  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  Vacarius  Oxford  stood  in  the  first 

rank  among  English  towns.  Its  town  church  of  S.  Martin  rose 
from  the  midst  of  a  huddled  group  of  houses,  girt  in  with  massive 
walls,  that  lay  along  the  dry  upper  ground  of  a  low  peninsula 
between  the  streams  of  Cherwell  and  the  upper  Thames.  The 
ground  fell  gently  on  either  side,  eastward  and  westward,  to  these 
rivers,  while  on  the  south  a  sharper  descent  led  down  across 
swampy  meadows  to  the  city  bridge  Around  lay  a  wild  forest 


SOUTH    VIEW    OF    NORTH    GATE    OR    BOCARDO,    WITH    TOWER    OF 

s.  MICHAEL'S  CHURCH,  OXFORD. 


OLD    CHURCH    OF    S.    MARTIN,   OXFORD. 

Re-built  temp.  Edward  111.  ;  demolished  in  eighteenth  century. 

Skclton,  "  Oxonia  Antigua  Kcstanrata." 


250 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  iv     country,  the  moors  of  Cowley  and  Bullingdon  fringing  the  course 
THE       of   Thames,  the    great    woods    of   Shotover    and    Bagley    closing- 

UNIVER-  &     3  & 

the  horizon  to  the  south  and  east.  Though  the  two  huge  towers 
of  its  Norman  castle  marked  the  strategic  importance  of  Oxford 
as  commanding  the  river  valley  along  which  the.  commerce  of 
Southern  England  mainly  flowed,  its  walls  formed,  perhaps,  the 


WATCH-TOWER   ON   HYTHE   BRIDGE,    CALLED    "FRIAR   BACON'S   STUDY." 

Twelfth  or  Thirteenth  Century. 
Skelton,  "  Oxonia  Antigua  Restaurata." 


least  element  in  its  military  strength,  for  on  every  side  but  the 
north  the  town  was  guarded  by  the  swampy  meadows  along 
Cherwell,  or  by  the  intricate  network  of  streams  into  which  the 
Thames  breaks  among  the  meadows  of  Osney.  From  the  midst 
of  these  meadows  rose  a  mitred  abbey  of  Austin  Canons,  which, 
with  the  older  priory  of  S.  Frideswide,  gave  the  town  some 
ecclesiastical  dignity.  The  residence  of  the  Norman  house  of  the 


Ill 


THE    GREAT    CHARTER 


D'Oillis  within    its    castle,   the    frequent    visits   of   English    kings      SEC.  iv 
to  a  palace  without  its  walls,   the  presence  again  and  again  of       THE 

UNIVER- 

importanc  councils,  marked  its  political  weight  within  the  realm.       SITIES 


HYTHE    BRIDGE    AND    CASTLE    TOWER,    OXFORD. 

Skelton,  "Oxonia  Antigua.  Restaurata." 

The  settlement  of  one  of  the  wealthiest  among  the  English  Jewries 
in  the  very  heart  of  the  town  indicated,  while  it  promoted,  the 
activity  of  its  trade.  No  place  be.tcr  illustrates  the  transformation 
of  the  land  in  the  hands  of  its  Norman  masters,  the  sudden 


HOME   FOR   CONVERTED  JEWS,    OR   DOM  US  CONVERSORUM,    OXFORD. 

Founded  1235  ;   demolished   1750. 
Skelton,   "  Oxonia  Antigua  Restaurata." 

outburst  of  industrial  effort,  the  sudden  expansion  of  commerce 
and  accumulation  of  wealth  which  followed  the  Conquest.  To 
the  west  of  the  town  rose  one  of  the  stateliest  of  English  castles, 
and  in  the  meadows  beneath  the  hardly  less  stately  abbey  of 


252 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.   IV 

THE 

UNIVER- 
SITIES 


Osney  In  the  fields  to  the  north  the  last  of  the  Norman  kings 
raised  his  palace  of  Beaumont.  The  canons  of  S.  Frideswide 
reared  the  church  which  still  exists  as  the  diocesan  cathedral, 
while  the  piety  of  the  Norman  Castellans  rebuilt  almost  all  the 
parish  churches  of  the  city,  and  founded  within  their  new  castle 
walls  the  church  of  the  Canons  of  S.  George.  We  know  nothing 
of  the  causes  which  drew  students  and  teachers  within  the  walls 


REMAINS    OF    OSNEY    ABBEY. 
From    an    engraving    by     \V.    Hollar. 

of  Oxford.  It  is  possible  that  here  as  elsewhere  a  new  teacher 
had  quickened  older  educational  foundations,  and  that  the  cloisters 
of  Osney  and  S.  Frideswide  already  possessed  schools  which  burst 
into  a  larger  life  under  the  impulse  of  Vacarius.  As  yet,  however, 
the  fortunes  of  the  University  were  obscured  by  the  glories  of 
Paris.  English  scholars  gathered  in  thousands  round  the  chairs 
of  William  of  Champeaux  or  Abelard.  The  English  took  their 
place  as  one  of  the  "  nations "  of  the  French  University.  John 
of  Salisbury  became  famous  as  one  of  the  Parisian  teachers. 


Ill 


THE    GREAT    CHARTER 


253 


Beket  wandered  to  Paris  from  his  school  at  Merton.  But  through 
the  peaceful  reign  of  Henry  the  Second  Oxford  was  quietly 
increasing  in  numbers  and  repute.  Forty  years  after  the  visit  of 
Vacarius  its  educational  position  was  fully  established.  When 
Gerald  of  Wales  read  his  amusing  Topography  of  Ireland  to  its 


SEC.  IV 


UNIVER- 
SITIES 


s.  FRIDESWIDE'S  PRIORY  CHURCH  (NOW  THE  CATHEDRAL),  OXFORD. 

fngram,   "  Memorials  of  Oxford." 


students,  the  most  learned  and  famous  of  the  English  clergy  were, 
he  tells  us,  to  be  found  within  its  walls.  At  the  opening  of  the 
thirteenth  century  Oxford  was  without  a  rival  in  its  own  country, 
while  in  European  celebrity  it  took  rank  with  the  greatest  schools 
of  the  Western  world.  But  to  realize  this  Oxford  of  the  past  we 
must  dismiss  from  our  minds  all  recollections  of  the  Oxford  of  the 
present.  In  the  outer  aspect  of  the  new  University  there  was 


254 


SEC.  IV 

THE 

UNIVER- 
SITIES 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


nothing  of  the  pomp  that  overawes  the  freshman  as  he  first  paces 
the  "  High,"  or  looks  down  from  the  gallery  of  S.  Mary's.  In  the 
stead  of  long  fronts  of  venerable  colleges,  of  stately  walks  beneath 
immemorial  elms,  history  plunges  us  into  the  mean  and  filthy  lanes 
of  a  mediaeval  town.  Thousands  of  boys,  huddled  in  bare  lodging- 
houses,  clustering  round  teachers  as  poor  as  themselves  in  church 
porch  and  house  porch,  drinking,  quarrelling,  dicing,  begging  at  the 


SEAL    OF    OXFORD    UNIVERSITY,    C.    1300. 
Ingram,  "Memorials  of  Oxford." 


corners  of  the  streets,  take  the  place  of  the  brightly-coloured  train 
of  doctors  and  Heads.  Mayor  and  Chancellor  struggled  in  vain  to 
enforce  order  or  peace  on  this  seething  mass  of  turbulent  life. 
The  retainers  who  followed  their  young  lords  to  the  University 
fought  out  the  feuds  of  their  houses  in  the  streets.  Scholars  from 
Kent  and  scholars  from  Scotland  waged  the  bitter  struggle  of 
North  and  South.  At  nightfall  roysterer  and  reveller  roamed 
with  torches  through  the  narrow  lanes,  defying  bailiff^  and 


Ill 


THE    GREAT    CHARTER 


255 


cutting  down  burghers  at  their  doors.  Now  a  mob  of  clerks 
plunged  into  the  Jewry,  and  wiped  off  the  memory  of  bills 
and  bonds  by  sacking  a  Hebrew  house  or  two.  Now  a  tavern 
row  between  scholar  and  townsman  widened  into  a  general  broil, 
and  the  academical  bell  of  S.  Mary's  vied  with  the  town  bell 
of  S.  Martin's  in  clanging  to  arms.  Every  phase  of  ecclesiastical 
controversy  or  political  strife  was  preluded  by  some  fierce 


SEC.  IV 

THE 
UNIVER- 
SITIES 


SEAL    OF    OXFORD    CITY. 
Ingrattt,  "  Memorials  of  Oxford." 

outbreak  in  this  turbulent,  surging  mob.  When  England  growled 
at  the  exactions  of  the  Papacy,  the  students  besieged  a  legate 
in  the  abbot's  house  at  Osney.  A  murderous  town  and  gown 
row  preceded  the  opening  of  the  Barons'  War.  "When  Oxford 
draws  knife,"  ran  the  old  rime,  "  England's  soon  at  strife." 

But  the  turbulence  and  stir  was  a  stir  and  turbulence  of  life.  Edmund 
A   keen  thirst   for    knowledge,  a  passionate  poetry  of  devotion, 
gathered   thousands    round    the   poorest    scholar,   and   welcomed 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP, 


SEC.  IV 

THE 

UNIVER- 
SITIES 


HOSPITAL   AT   OXFORD    BUILT   BY   HENRY   III., 

I233- 

Drawn  by  Matthew  Paris. 
MS.  Roy.  14  C.  vii. 


the  barefoot  friar.  Edmund  Rich — Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
and  saint  in  later  days — came  to  Oxford,  a  boy  of  twelve  years 
old,  from  the  little  lane  at  Abingdon  that  still  bears  his  name. 
He  found  his  school  in  an  inn  that  belonged  to  the  abbey  of 

Eynsham,  where  his  father 
had  taken  refuge  from  the 
world.  His  mother  was  a 
pious  woman  of  the  day, 
too  poor  to  give  her  boy 
much  outfit  besides  the 
hair  shirt  that  he  promised 
to  wear  every  Wednes- 
day;  but  Edmund  was  no 
poorer  than  his  neigh- 
bours. He  plunged  at 
once  into  the  nobler  life 

of  the  place,  its  ardour  for  knowledge,  its  mystical  piety. 
"  Secretly,"  perhaps  at  eventide  when  the  shadows  were  gathering 
*  in  the  church  of  S.  Mary's,  and  the  crowd  of  teachers  and 
students  had  left  its  aisles,  the  boy  stood  before  an  image  of 
the  Virgin,  and  placing  a  ring  of  gold  upon  its  finger  took  Mary 
for  his  bride.  Years  of  study,  broken  by  a  fever  that  raged 
among  the  crowded,  noisome  streets,  brought  the  time  for 
completing  his  education  at  Paris  ;  and  Edmund,  hand  in  hand 
with  a  brother  Robert  of  his,  begged  his  way,  as  poor  scholars 
were  wont,  to  the  great  school  of  Western  Christendom.  Here 
a  damsel,  heedless  of  his  tonsure,  wooed  him  so  pertinaciously 
that  Edmund  consented  at  last  to  an  assignation  ;  but  when  he 
appeared  it  was  in  company  of  grave  academical  officials,  who, 
as  the  maiden  declared  in  the  hour  of  penitence  which  followed, 
"  straightway  whipped  the  offending  Eve  out  of  her."  Still  true 
to  his  Virgin  bridal,  Edmund,  on  his  return  from  Paris,  became 
the  most  popular  of  Oxford  teachers.  It  is  to  him  that  Oxford 
owes  her  first  introduction  to  the  Logic  of  Aristotle.  We  see 
him  in  the  little  room  which  he  hired,  with  the  Virgin's  chapel 
hard  by,  his  grey  gown  reaching  to  his  feet,  ascetic  in  his  devotion, 
falling  asleep  in  lecture  time  after  a  sleepless  night  of  prayer, 
with  a  grace  and  cheerfulness  of  manner  which  told  of  his  French 


Ill 


THE    GREAT    CHARTER 


257 


SEC.  IV 

THE 
UNIVER- 
SITIES 


training,  and  a  chivalrous  love  of  knowledge  that  let  his  pupils 
pay  what  they  would.  "  Ashes  to  ashes,  dust  to  dust,"  the  young 
tutor  would  say,  a  touch  of  scholarly  pride  perhaps  mingling 
with  his  contempt  of  worldly  things,  as  he  threw  down  the  fee 
on  the  dus'y  w:ndow-ledge,  whence  a  thievish  student  would 
sometimes  run  off  with  it.  But  even  knowledge  brought  its 
troubles  ;  the  Old  Testament,  which  with  a  copy  of  the  Decretals 
long  formed  his  sole  library,  frowned  down  upon  a  love  of  secular 
learning  from  which  Edmund  found  it  hard  to  wean  himself. 
At  last,  in  some  hour  of  dream,  the  form  of  his  dead  mother 
floated  into  the  room  where  the  teacher  stood  among  his  mathe- 
matical diagrams.  "  What  are  these  ? "  she  seemed  to  say  ;  and 
seizing  Edmund's  right  hand,  she  drew  on  the  palm  three  circles 
interlaced,  each  of  which  bore  the  name  of  one  of  the  Persons 
of  the  Christian  Trinity.  "  Be  these,"  she  cried,  as  her  figure 
faded  away,  "  thy  diagrams  henceforth,  my  son." 

The  story  admirably  illustrates  the  real  character  of  the  new  TheUni- 

,.    ,       TT    •  versities 

training,  and  the  latent  opposition  between  the  spirit  of  the  Univer-  ana  Feu- 
dalism 


PART    OF    AUSTIN    FRIARY,    OXFORD. 

Founded  A.  D.  1268;  demolished  1801. 
Skelton,  '•''Oxonia  Antigua  Restaurata." 


sities  and  the  spirit  of  the  Church.     The  feudal  and  ecclesiastical 
order  of  the   old  mediaeval  world  were  both  alike  threatened  by 
VOL.  1—17 


258 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  IV 

THE 
UNIVER- 
SITIES 


the  power  that  had  so  strangely  sprung  up  in  the  midst  of  them. 
Feudalism  rested  on  local  isolation,  on  the  severance  of  kingdom 
from  kingdom  and  barony  from  barony,  on  the  distinction  of 
blood  and  race,  on  the  supremacy  of  material  or  brute  force, 
on  an  allegiance  determined  by  accidents  of  place  and  social 
position.  The  University,  on  the  other  hand,  was  a  protest 
against  this  isolation  of  man  from  man.  The  smallest  school 
was  European  and  not  local.  Not  merely  every  province  of 
France,  but  every  people  of  Christendom,  had  its  place  among 
the  "  nations "  of  Paris  or  Padua.  A  common  language,  the 


'  BIHAM    HALL    AND    POSTMASTER'S    HALL,     OXFORD. 

Thirteenth  and  Fourteenth  Centuries. 
Skelton,  "  Oxonia  Antigua  Rcstaurata." 


Latin  tongue,  superseded  within  academical  bounds  the  warring 
tongues  of  Europe.  A  common  intellectual  kinship  and  rivalry 
took  the  place  of  the  petty  strifes  which  parted  province  from 
province  or  realm  from  realm.  What  the  Church  and  Em- 
pire had  both  aimed  at  and  both  failed  in,  the  knitting  of 
Christian  nations  together  into  a  vast  commonwealth,  the  Uni- 
versities for  a  time  actually  did.  Dante  felt  himself  as  little 
a  stranger  in  the  "  Latin "  quarter  around  Mont  Ste.  Genevieve 
as  under  the  arches  of  Bologna.  Wandering  Oxford  scholars 
carried  the  writings  of  Wyclif  to  the  libraries  of  Prague.  In 
England  the  work  of  provincial  fusion  was  less  difficult  or 


Ill 


THE    GREAT    CHARTER 


important  than  elsewhere,  but  even  in  England  work  had  to 
be  done.  The  feuds  of  Northerner  and  Southerner  which  so 
long  disturbed  the  discipline  of  Oxford  witnessed  at  any  rate 
to  the  fact  that  Northerner  and  Southerner  had  at  last  been 
brought  face  to  face  in  its  streets.  And  here  as  elsewhere  the 
spirit  of  national  isolation  was  held  in  check  by  the  larger 
comprehensiveness  of  the  University.  After  the  dissensions 
that  threatened  the  prosperity  of  Paris  in  the  thirteenth  century, 
Norman  and  Gascon  mingled  with  Englishmen  in  Oxford  lecture- 
halls.  At  a  later  time  the  rebellion  of  Owen  Glyndwr  found 


259 


SEC.  IV 

THE 
UNIVER- 
SITIES 


GLOUCESTER    HALL    (NOW    WORCESTER    COLLEGE),    OXFORD. 

From  an  engraving  ly  Loggan,  c.   1673. 


hundreds  of  Welshmen  gathered  round  its  teachers.  And  within 
this  strangely  mingled  mass,  society  and  government  rested  on 
a  purely  democratic  basis.  Among  Oxford  scholars  the  son 
of  the  noble  stood  on  precisely  the  same  footing  with  the  poorest 
mendicant.  Wealth,  physical  strength,  skill  in  arms,  pride  of 
ancestry  and  blood,  the  very  grounds  on  which  feudal  society 
rested,  went  for  nothing  in  the  lecture-room.  The  University 
was  a  state  absolutely  self-governed,  and  whose  citizens  were 
admitted  by  a  purely  intellectual  franchise.  Knowledge  made 
the  "master."  To  know  more  than  one's  fellows  was  a  man's 
sole  claim  to  be  a  "ruler"  in  the  schools:  and  within  this 


260 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  IV 

THE 

UNIVER- 
SITIES 


The  Uni- 
versities 
and  the 
Church 


intellectual  aristocracy  all  were  equal.  When  the  free  common- 
wealth of  the  masters  gathered  in  the  aisles  of  S.  Mary's  all 
had  an  equal  right  to  counsel,  all  had  an  equal  vote  in  the  final 
decision.  Treasury  and  library  were  at  their  complete  disposal. 
It  was  their  voice  that  named  every  officer,  that  proposed  and 
sanctioned  every  statute.  Even  the  Chancellor,  their  head, 
who  had  at  first  been  an  officer  of  the  Bishop,  became  an  elected 
officer  of  their  own. 

If  the  democratic  spirit  of  the  Universities  threatened  feudalism, 
their  spirit  of  intellectual  inquiry  threatened  the  Church.  To  all 
outer  seeming  they  were  purely  ecclesiastical  bodies.  The  wide 


BUILDINGS    OF    MERTON    COLLEGE,    OXFORD. 

Early  Fourteenth  Century. 
Skelton,  "  Oxonia,  Antiqua  Restaurata." 


extension  which  mediaeval  usage  gave  to  the  word  "  orders " 
gathered  the  whole  educated  world  within  the  pale  of  the  clergy. 
Whatever  might  be  their  age  or  proficiency,  scholar  and  teacher 
were  alike  clerks,  free  from  lay  responsibilities  or  the  control  of 
civil  tribunals,  and  amenable  only  to  the  rule  of  the  Bishop  and 
the  sentence  of  his  spiritual  courts.  This  ecclesiastical  character  of 
the  University  appeared  in  that  of  its  head.  The  Chancellor,  as 
we  have  seen,  was  at  first  no  officer  of  the  University,  but  of  the 
ecclesiastical  body  under  whose  shadow  it  had  sprung  into  life. 


111  THE    GREAT    CHARTER  261 


At    Oxford    he   was    simply  the    local    officer    of    the    Bishop    of      SEC.  iv 
Lincoln,  within  whose  immense  diocese  the   University  was  then        T^ 
situated.     But  this  identification  in  outer  form   with  the  Church       S1T1ES 
only  rendered  more  conspicuous  the  difference  of  its  spirit.     The 
sudden  expansion  of  the  field  of  education  diminished  the  import- 
ance of  those  purely  ecclesiastical  and  theological  studies  which 
had  hitherto  absorbed  the  whole  intellectual  energies  of  mankind. 
The  revival  of  classical  literature,  the  rediscovery  as  it  were  of  an 
older  and  a  greater  world,  the  contact  with  a  "larger,  freer  life, 
whether  in   mind,  in  society,  or  in  politics,  introduced  a  spirit  of 
scepticism,  of  doubt,  of  denial  into  the  realms  of  unquestioning 
belief.      Abelard    claimed    for   reason    the   supremacy  over  faith. 
Florentine  poets  discussed  with  a  smile  the  immortality  of  the 
soul.     Even  to  Dante,  while  he  censures  these,  Vergil  is  as  sacred 
as  Jeremiah.     The  imperial  ruler  in  whom  the  new  culture  took 
its   most  notable  form,  Frederick  the  Second,  the  "  World's  Won- 
der "  of  his  time,  was  regarded  by  half  Europe  as  no  better  than 
an  infidel.     A  faint  revival  of  physical  science,  so  long  crushed  as 
magic    by  the  dominant  ecclesiasticism,   brought   Christians  into 
perilous  contact  with  the  Moslem  and  the  Jew.     The  books  of  the 
Rabbis  were    no   longer  a  mere  accursed  thing  to  Roger  Bacon. 
The  scholars  of  Cordova  were  no  mere  Paynim  swine  to  Adelard 
of  Bath.     How  slowly  indeed  and  against  what  obstacles  science 
won    its    way    we    know     from    the    witness    of    Roger     Bacon. 
"  Slowly,"  he  tells   us,    "  has   any   portion    of  the  philosophy   of 
Aristotle  come  into  use  among  the  Latins.     His  Natural  Philoso- 
phy and  his  Metaphysics,  with  the  Commentaries  of  Averroes  and 
others,  were  translated  in  my  time,  and  interdicted  at  Paris  up  to 
the  year  of  grace  1237  because  of  their  assertion  of  the  eternity  of 
the  world  and  of  time,  and  because  of  the  book  of  the  divinations 
by  dreams  (which  is  the  third  book,  De  Somniis  et  Vigiliis),  and 
because  of  many  passages  erroneously  translated.     Even  his  Logic 
was  slowly  received  and  lectured  on.     For  St.  Edmund,  the  Arch- 
bishop  of  Canterbury,  was  the  first    in   my  time    who  read  the 
Elements  at  Oxford.     And  I  have  seen  Master  Hugo,  who  first 
read  the  book  of  Posterior  Analytics,  and  I  have  seen  his  writ- 
ing.    So   there   were  but  few,  considering    the  multitude  of  the 
Latins,  who  were  of  any  account  in  the  philosophy  of  Aristotle ; 


262  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  iv     nay,  very  few  indeed,  and  scarcely  any  up  to  this  year  of  grace 

THE  I2Q2." 

UNIVER- 
SITIES \Ve  shall  see  in  a   later  page  how  fiercely   the  Church  fought 

Roger     against  this  tide  of  opposition,  and  how  it  won  back  the  allegiance 
Bacon 
1214-1292  of  the  Universities  through  the  begging  Friars.     But  it  was  in  the 

ranks  of  the  Friars  themselves  that  the  intellectual  progress  of  the 
Universities  found  its  highest  representative.  The  life  of  Roger 
Bacon  almost  covers  the  thirteenth  century ;  he  was  the  child  of 
royalist  parents,  who  had  been  driven  into  exile  and  reduced  to 
poverty  by  the  civil  wars.  From  Oxford,  where  he  studied  under 
Edmund  of  Abingdon,  to  whom  he  owed  his  introduction  to  the 
works  of  Aristotle,  he  passed  to  the  University  of  Paris,  where  his 
whole  heritage  was  spent  in  costly  studies  and  experiments. 
"  From  my  youth  up,"  he  writes,  "  I  have  laboured  at  the  sciences 
and  tongues.  I  have  sought  the  friendship  of  all  men  among  the 
Latins  who  had  any  reputation  for  knowledge.  I  have  caused 
youths  to  be-  instructed  in  languages,  geometry,  arithmetic,  the 
construction  of  tables  and  instruments,  and  many  needful  things 
besides."  The  difficulties  in  the  way  of  such  studies  as  he  had 
resolved  to  pursue  were  immense.  He  was  without  instruments  or 
means  of  experiment.  "  Without  mathematical  instruments  no 
science  can  be  mastered,"  he  complains  afterwards,  "and  these 
instruments  are  not  to  be  found  among  the  Latins,  nor  could  they 
be  made  for  two  or  three  hundred  pounds.  Besides,  better  tables 
are  indispensably  necessary,  tables  on  which  the  motions  of  the 
heavens  are  certified  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  world 
without  daily  labour,  but  these  tables  are  worth  a  king's  ransom, 
and  could  not  be  made  without  a  vast  expense.  I  have  often 
attempted  the  composition  of  such  tables,  but  could  not  finish 
them  through  failure  of  means  and  the  folly  of  those  whom  I  had 
to  employ."  Books  were  difficult  and  sometimes  even  impossible 
to  procure.  "  The  philosophical  works  of  Aristotle,  of  Avicenna, 
of  Seneca,  of  Cicero,  and  other  ancients  cannot  be  had  without 
great  cost  ;  their  principal  works  have  not  been  translated  into 
Latin,  and  copies  of  others  are  not  to  be  found  in  ordinary  libraries 
or  elsewhere.  The  admirable  books  of  Cicero  de  Republica  are 
not  to  be  found  anywhere,  so  far  as  I  can  hear,  though  I  have 
made  anxious  inquiry  for  them  in  different  parts  of  the  world,  and 


in  THE    GREAT    CHARTER  263 


by  various   messengers.     I  could  never  find  the- works  of  Seneca,      SEC.  iv 
though  I   made  diligent  search  for  them  during  twenty  years   and        TH* 

UNIVER- 

more.  And  so  it  is  with  many  more  most  useful  books  connected  S'TIES 
with  the  science  of  morals."  It  is  only  words  like  these  of  his 
own  that  bring  home  to  us  the  keen  thirst  for  knowledge,  the 
patience,  the  energy  of  Roger  Bacon.  He  returned  as  a  teacher 
to  Oxford,  and  a  touching  record  of  his  devotion  to  those  whom 
he  taught  remains  in  the  story  of  John  of  London,  a  boy  of  fifteen, 
whose  ability  raised  him  above  the  general  level  of  his  pupils. 
"  When  he  came  to  me  as  a  poor  boy,"  says  Bacon,  in  recommend- 
ing him  to  the  Pope,  "  I  caused  him  to  be  nurtured  and  instructed 
for  the  love  of  God,  especially  since  for  aptitude  and  innocence  I 
have  never  found  so  towardly  a  youth.  Five  or  six  years  ago  I 
caused  him  to  be  taught  in  languages,  mathematics,  and  optics, 
and  I  have  gratuitously  instructed  him  with  my  own  lips  since  the 
time  that  I  received  your  mandate.  There  is  no  one  at  Paris  who 
knows  so  much  of  the  root  of  philosophy,  though  he  has  not  pro- 
duced the  branches,  flowers,  and  fruit  because  of  his  youth,  and 
because  he  has  had  no  experience  in  teaching.  But  he  has  the 
means  of  surpassing  all  the  Latins  if  he  live  to  grow  old  and  goes 
on  as  he  has  begun." 

The  pride  with  which  he  refers  to  his  system  of  instruction  was 
justified  by  the  wide  extension  which  he  gave  to  scientific  teaching 
in  Oxford.  It  is  probably  of  himself  that  he  speaks  when  he  tells 
us  that  "  the  science  of  optics  has  not  hitherto  been  lectured  on  at 
Paris  or  elsewhere  among  the  Latins,  save  twice  at  Oxford."  It 
was  a  science  on  which  he  had  laboured  for  ten  years.  But  his 
teaching  seems  to  have  fallen  on  a  barren  soil.  From  the  moment 
when  the  friars  settled  in  the  Universities  scholasticism  absorbed 
the  whole  mental  energy  of  the  student  world.  The  temper  of  the 
age  was  against  scientific  or  philosophical  studies.  The  older 
enthusiasm  for  knowledge  was  dying  down  ;  the  study  of  law  was 
the  one  source  of  promotion,  whether  in  Church  or  state ;  philo- 
sophy was  discredited,  literature  in  its  purer  forms  became  almost 
extinct.  After  forty  years  of  incessant  study,  Bacon  found  him- 
self in  his  own  words  "  unheard,  forgotten,  buried."  He  seems  at 
one  time  to  have  been  wealthy,  but  his  wealth  was  gone.  "  During 
the  twenty  years  that  I  have  specially  laboured  in  the  attainment 


264  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  iv     of  wisdom,  abandoning  the  path  of  common  men,  I  have  spent 
THE        on  these  pursuits  more  than  two  thousand  pounds,  on  account  of 

UNIVER- 
SITIES      the  cost  of  books,  experiments,  instruments,  tables,  the  acquisition 

of  languages,  and  the  like.  Add  to  all  this  the  sacrifices  I  have 
made  to  procure  the  friendship  of  the  wise,  and  to  obtain  well- 
instructed  assistants."  Ruined  and  baffled  in  his  hopes,  Bacon 
listened  to  the  counsels  of  his  friend  Grosseteste  and  renounced 
the  world.  He  became  a  friar  of  the  order  of  S.  Francis,  an  order 
where  books  and  study  were  looked  upon  as  hindrances  to  the 
work  which  it  had  specially  undertaken,  that  of  preaching  among 
the  masses  of  the  poor.  He  had  written  hardly  anything.  So  far 
was  he  from  attempting  to  write,  that  his  new  superiors  had  pro- 
hibited him  from  publishing  anything  under  pain  of  forfeiture  of 
the  book  and  penance  of  bread  and  water.  But  we  can  see  the 
craving  of  his  mind,  the  passionate  instinct  of  creation  which 
marks  the  man  of  genius,  in  the  joy  with  which  he  seized  the 
strange  opportunity  which  suddenly  opened  before  him.  "  Some 
few  chapters  on  different  subjects,  written  at  the  entreaty  of 
friends,"  seem  to  have  got  abroad,  and  were  brought  by  one  of  his 
chaplains  under  the  notice  of  Clement  the  Fourth.  The  Pope  at 
once  invited  him  to  write.  Again  difficulties  stood  in  his  way. 
Materials,  transcription,  and  other  expenses  for  such  a  work  as  he 
projected  would  cost  at  least  £60,  and  the  Pope  had  not  sent  a 
penny.  He  begged  help  from  his  family,  but  they  were  ruined 
like  himself.  No  one  would  lend  to  a  mendicant  friar,  and  when 
his  friends  raised  the  money  it  was  by  pawning  their  goods  in  the 
hope  of  repayment  from  Clement.  Nor  was  this  all  ;  the  work 
itself,  abstruse  and  scientific  as  was  its  subject,  had  to  be  treated  in 
a  clear  and  popular  form  to  gain  the  Papal  ear.  But  difficulties 
which  would  have  crushed  another  man  only  roused  Roger  Bacon 
to  an  almost  superhuman  energy.  In  little  more  than  a  year  the 
work  was  done.  The  "  greater  work,"  itself  in  modern  form  a 
closely  printed  folio,  with  its  successive  summaries  and  appendices 
in  the  "  lesser "  and  the  "  third "  works  (which  make  a  good 
octavo  more)  were  produced  and  forwarded  to  the  '  Pope  within 
fifteen  months. 

The  Opus         No  trace  of  this  fiery  haste  remains  in  the  book  itself.     The 
"Opus  Majus"  is  alike  wonderful   in  plan  and  detail.     Bacon's 


SITIES 


in  THE    GREAT    CHARTER  265 

main  plan,  in  the  words  of  Dr.  Whewell,  is  "  to  urge  the  necessity      SEC.  iv 
of  a  reform  in  the  mode  of  philosophizing,  to  set  forth  the  reasons     TTTHE 

UNIVER- 

why  knowledge  had   not  made  a  greater  progress,  to  draw  back 
attention    to    sources    of  knowledge    which    had    been    unwisely 
neglected,  to  discover  other  sources  which  were  yet  wholly  un- 
known, and  to  animate  men  to  the  undertaking  by  a  prospect  of 
the  vast  advantages  which  it  offered."     The  developement  of  his 
scheme  is    on  the  largest  scale  ;  he  gathers  together  the  whole 
knowledge  of  his  time  on  every  branch  of  science  which  it  pos- 
sessed, and  as  he  passes  them  in  review  he  suggests  improvements 
in  nearly  all.     His  labours,  both  here  and  in  his  after  works,  in 
the  field  of  grammar  and  philology,  his  perseverance  in  insisting 
on  the  necessity  of  correct  texts,  of  an  accurate  knowledge  of 
languages,  of  an  exact  interpretation,  are  hardly  less  remarkable 
than  his  scientific  investigations.     But  from  grammar  he  passes 
to   mathematics,  from    mathematics  to   experimental  philosophy. 
Under  the  name  of  mathematics  was  included  all  the  physical 
science  of  the  time.     "  The  neglect  of  it  for  nearly  thirty  or  forty 
years,"    pleads   Bacon   passionately,    "  hath   nearly  destroyed   the 
entire   studies   of  Latin    Christendom.      For  he  who   knows  not 
mathematics  cannot  know  any  other  sciences  :  and  what  is  more, 
he  cannot  discover  his  own  ignorance  or  find  its  proper  remedies." 
Geography,  chronology,  arithmetic,  music,  are  brought  into  some- 
thing of  scientific  form,  and  the  same  rapid  examination  is  devoted 
to  the  question  of  climate,  to  hydrography,  geography,  and  as- 
trology.    The  subject  of  optics,  his  own  especial  study,  is  treated 
with  greater  fulness  ;  he  enters  into  the  question  of  the  anatomy  of 
the  eye,  besides  discussing  the  problems  which  lie  more  strictly 
within  the  province  of  optical  science.     In  a  word,  the  "  Greater 
Work,"  to  borrow  the   phrase  of  Dr.  Whewell,   is  "  at  once  the 
Encyclopaedia  and   the  Novum  Organum  of  the  thirteenth   cen- 
tury."    The  whole  of  the  after  works  of  Roger  Bacon — and  treatise 
after  treatise  has  of  late  been  disentombed  from  our  libraries — are 
but  developements  in  detail  of  the  magnificent  conception  he  had 
laid  before   Clement.     Such   a   work   was  its   own  great  reward. 
From  the  world  around  Roger  Bacon    could  look  for  and  found 
small  recognition.     No  word  of  acknowledgement  seems  to  have 
reached  its  author  from  the  Pope.     If  we  may  credit  a  more  recent 


266  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 


SEC.  v      story,  his    writings  only   gained    him    a    prison    from    his    order. 

HENRY  THE  "  Unheard,  forgotten,  buried,"  the  old  man  died  as  he  had  lived, 

1216       and  it  has  been  reserved  for  later  ages  to  roll  away  the  obscurity 

1257       that  had  gathered   round  his   memory,  and   to  place  first  in  the 

great  roll  of  modern  science  the  name  of  Roger  Bacon. 


Section  V. — Henry  the  Third,  1216 — 1257 

[Authorities. — The  two  great  authorities  for  this  period  are  the  historio- 
graphers of  St.  Albans,  Roger  of  Wendover,  whose  work  ends  in  1235,  and  his 
editor  and  continuator  Matthew  Paris.  The  first  is  full  but  inaccurate,  and  with 
strong  royal  and  ecclesiastical  sympathies  :  of  the  character  of  Matthew,  I  have 
spoken  at  the  close  of  the  present  section.  The  Chronicles  of  Dunstable, 
Waverley,  and  Burton  (published  in  Mr.  Luard's  "Annales  Monastici ")  supply 
many  details.  The  "  Royal  Letters,"  edited  by  Dr.  Shirley,  with  an  admirable 
preface,  are,  like  the  Patent  and  Close  Rolls,  of  the  highest  value.  For  opposi- 
tion to  Rome,  see  "  Grosseteste's  Letters,"  edited  by  Mr.  Luard.] 

Hubert  The  death  of  the  Earl  Marshal  in    1219  left  the  direction  of 

affairs  in  the  hands  of  a  new  legate,  Pandulf,  of  Stephen  Langton 
who  had  just  returned  forgiven  from  Rome,  and  of  the  Justiciar, 
Hubert  de  Burgh.  It  was  an  age  of  transition,  and  the  temper  of 
the  Justiciar  was  eminently  transitional.  Bred  in  the  school  of 
Henry  the  Second,  he  had  little  sympathy  with  national  freedom  ; 
his  conception  of  good  government,  like  that  of  his  master,  lay  in 
a  wise  personal  administration,  in  the  preservation  of  order  and  law. 
But  he  combined  with  this  a  thoroughly  English  desire  for  national 
independence,  a  hatred  of  foreigners,  and  a  reluctance  to  waste 
English  blood  and  treasure  in  Continental  struggles.  Able  as  he 
proved  himself,  his  task  was  one  of  no  common  difficulty.  He  was 
hampered  by  the  constant  interference  of  Rome.  A  Papal  legate 
resided  at  the  English  court,  and  claimed  a  share  in  the  admin- 
istration of  the  realm  as  the  representative  of  its  over-lord,  and  as 
guardian  of  the  young  sovereign.  A  foreign  party,  too,  had  still  a 
footing  in  the  kingdom,  for  William  Marshal  had  been  unable  to 
rid  himself  of  men  like  Peter  des  Roches  or  Faukes  de  Breaute, 
who  had  fought  on  the  royal  side  in  the  struggle  against  Lewis. 
Hubert  had  to  deal  too  with  the  anarchy  which  that  struggle  left 
behind  it.  From  the  time  of  the  Conquest  the  centre  of  England 


Ill 


THE    GREAT    CHARTER 


267 


had  been  covered  with  the  domains  of  great  nobles,  whose  longings       SEC.  v 
were  for  feudal  independence,  and  whose  spirit  of  revolt  had  been  HENRY  THK 
held  in  check,  partly  by  the  stern  rule  of  the  Kings,  and  partly  by        1216 
their  creation  of  a  baronage  sprung  from  the  Court  and  settled  for       1257 
the  most  part  in  the  North.     The  oppression  of  John  united  both 
the  older  and  these  newer  houses  in  the  struggle  for  the  Charter. 


CORONATION    AND    UNCTION    OF    A    KING. 

MS.  Cantb.   Univ.  Libr.  Ee.  Hi.  59. 

c.  A.D.  1245. 


But  the  character  of  each  remained  unchanged,  and  the  close  of 
the  struggle  saw  the  feudal  party  break  out  in  their  old  lawlessness 
and  defiance  of  the  Crown.  For  a  time  the  anarchy  of  Stephen's 
days  seemed  revived.  But  the  Justiciar  was  resolute  to  crush  it,  and 
he  was  backed  by  the  strenuous  efforts  of  Stephen  Langton.  The 
Earl  of  Chester,  the  head  of  the  feudal  baronage,  though  he  rose 
in^armcd  rebellion,  quailed  before  the  march  of  Hubert  and  the 


268 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAV. 


SEC.  V 

HENRY  THE 
THIRD 

I2l6 

TO 

1257 
1224 


Langton 

and  the 

Charter 

1216 


1223 


Hubert's 
Fall 

Langton's 
death 
1228 


Primate's  threats  of  excommunication.  A  more  formidable  foe 
remained  in  the  Frenchman,  Faukes  de  Breaute,  the  sheriff  of  six 
counties,  with  six  royal  castles  in  his  hands,  and  allied  both  with 
the  rebel  barons  and  Llewelyn  of  Wales.  His  castle  of  Bedford 
was  besieged  for  two  months  before  its  surrender,  and  the  stern 
justice  of  Hubert  hanged  the  twenty-four  knights  and  their  re- 
tainers who  formed  the  garrison  before  its  walls.  The  blow  was 
effectual  ;  the  royal  castles  were  surrendered  by  the  barons,  and 
the  land  was  once  more  at  peace.  Freed  from  foreign  soldiery, 
the  country  was  freed  also  from  the  presence  of  the  foreign  legate. 
Langton  wrested  a  promise  from  Rome  that  so  long  as  he  lived  no 
future  legate  should  be  sent  to  England,  and  with  Pandulfs 
resignation  in  1221  the  direct  interference  of  the  Papacy  in  the 
government  of  the  realm  came  to  an  end.  But  even  these  services 
of  the  Primate  were  small  compared  with  his  services  to  English 
freedom.  Throughout  his  life  the  Charter  was  the  first  object  of 
his  care.  The  omission  of  the  articles  which  restricted  the  roya! 
power  over  taxation  in  the  Charter  which  was  published  at  Henry's 
accession  was  doubtless  due  to  the  Archbishop's  absence  and 
disgrace  at  Rome.  The  suppression  of  disorder  seems  to  have  revived 
the  older  spirit  of  resistance  among  the  royal  ministers  ;  when 
Langton  demanded  a  fresh  confirmation  of  the  Charter  in  Parlia- 
ment at  London,  William  Brewer,  one  of  the  King's  councillors, 
protested  that  it  had  been  extorted  by  force,  and  was  without  legal 
validity.  "  If  you  loved  the  King,  William,"  the  Primate  burst  out 
in  anger,  "  you  would  not  throw  a  stumbling-block  in  the  way  of 
the  peace  of  the  realm."  The  King  was  cowed  by  the  Archbishop's 
wrath,  and  at  once  promised  observance  of  the  Charter.  Two 
years  after,  its  solemn  promulgation  was  demanded  by  the  Arch- 
bishop and  the  barons  as  the  price  of  a  subsidy,  and  Henry's  assent 
established  the  principle,  so  fruitful  of  constitutional  results,  that 
redress  of  wrongs  precedes  a  grant  to  the  Crown. 

The  death  of  Stephen  Langton  in  1228  proved  a  heavy  blow  to 
English  freedom.  In  1227  Henry  had  declared  himself  of  age; 
and  though  Hubert  still  remained  Justiciar,  every  year  saw  him 
more  powerless  in  his  struggle  with  Rome  and  with  the  tendencies 
of  the  King.  In  the  mediaeval  theory  of  the  Papacy,  the  constitu- 
tion of  Christendom  as  a  spiritual  realm  took  the  feudal  form  of  the 


Ill 


THE    GREAT    CHARTER 


269 


secular  kingdoms  within    its  pale,    with   the    Pope  for  sovereign,      SEC.  v 
bishops  for  his  barons,  the  clergy  for  his  under  vassals.     As  the  HENRY  THE 

THIRD 

King  demanded  aids  and  subsidies  in  case  of  need  frpm  his  liegemen, 
so  it  was  believed  might  the  head  of  the  Church  from  the  priest- 


CONSECRATION   OF  A   BISHOP. 

Probably    drawn    by    Matthew    Paris. 

MS.  Colt.  Nero  D.  i. 


hood.  At  this  moment  the  Papacy,  exhausted  by  its  long  struggle 
with  Frederick  the  Second,  grew  more  and  more  extortionate  in  its 
demands.  It  regarded  England  as  a  vassal  kingdom,  and  as  bound 
to  aid  its  overlord.  The  baronage,  however,  rejected  the  demand 
of  aid  from  the  laity,  and  the  Pope  fell  back  on  the  clergy.  He 
demanded  a  tithe  of  all  the  moveables  of  the  priesthood,  and  a 
threat  of  excommunication  silenced  their  murmurs.  Exaction 
followed  exaction,  the  very  rights  of  the  lay  patrons  were  set  aside, 
and  under  the  name  of  "  reserves  "  presentations  to  English  bene- 
fices were  sold  in  the  Papal  market,  while  Italian  clergy  were 
quartered  on  the  best  livings  of  the  Church.  The  general  indigna- 
tion found  vent  at  last  in  a  wide  conspiracy  ;  letters  from  "  the 


I2l6 

TO 
1257 


270 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


1216 

TO 

1257 


1229 


SEC.  v      whole  body  of  those  who  prefer  to  die  rather  than  be  ruined  by  the 
H'ENRY  THE  Romans  "  were  scattered  over  the  kingdom  by  armed  men  ;  tithes 

THIRD  ' 

gathered  for  the  Pope  and  foreign  clergy  were  seized  and  given  to 
the  poor,  the  Papal  commissioners  beaten,  and  their  bulls  trodden 
under  foot.  The  remonstrances  of  Rome  only  revealed  the  national 
character  of  the  movement  ;  but  as  inquiry  proceeded  the  hand  of 
the  Justiciar  himself  was  seen  to  have  been  at  work.  Sheriffs  had 
stood  idly  by  while  the  violence  was  done  ;  royal  letters  had  been 
shown  by  the  rioters  as  approving  their  acts  ;  and  the  Pope  openly 
laid  the  charge  of  the  outbreak  on  the  secret  connivance  of  Hubert 
de  Burgh.  The  charge  came  at  a  time  when  Henry  was  in  full 
collision  with  his  minister,  to  whom  he  attributed  the  failure  of  his 
attempts  to  regain  the  foreign  dominions  of  his  house.  An  invita- 
tion from  the  barons  of  Normandy  had  been  rejected  through 

Hubert's  remonstrances,  and  when  a  great  armament  gathered  at 

Portsmouth  for  a  campaign  in  Poitou,  it  was  dispersed  for  want  of 
transport  and  supplies.  The 

young  King  drew  his  sword  and 

rushed   madly  on  the  Justiciar, 

whom  he  charged  with  treason 

and  corruption   by  the  gold   of 

France  ;    but    the    quarrel    was 

appeased,    and    the    expedition 

deferred     for     the     year.      The 

failure  of  the  campaign  in   the 

following     year,     when     Henry 

took  the  field  in  Britanny  and 

Poitou,   was  again    laid    at   the 

door  of  Hubert,  whose  opposi- 
tion was  said  to  have  prevented 

an      engagement.      The     Papal 

accusation  filled  up  the  measure 

of  Henry's  wrath.     Hubert  was 

dragged  from  a  chapel  at  Brent- 
wood  where  he  had  taken  refuge, 

and  a  smith  was  ordered  to  shackle  him.     "  I  will  die  any  death," 

replied  the    smith,  "  before    I    put   iron    on    the    man    who    freed 

England  from  the  stranger  and  saved  Dover  from  France."     On 


1230 


HENRY    III.    SAILING   TO    BRITANNY, 

I23O. 

Drawn  by  Matthew  Paris 
MS.  Roy.  14  C.  vii. 


Ill 


THE    GREAT    CHARTER 


2.  i 


calciatniv*a  eamtfta 
ait  atrarc  ^c  cfcj 


TO 

1257. 


Ccf  afcttcwur  cm_  cuxcf 


Henry 
and  t'he 


HUBERT   DE    BURGH    IN    SANCTUARY 

AT    MERTOX,    1232 

Drawn  by  Matthew  Paris. 

MS.  Roy.  14  C.  vii. 


From    the    cruelty,  the   lust, 
absolutely   free.      But  of  the 


the   remonstrances  of   the   Bishop      SEC.  v 
of   London    Hubert   was    replaced  HENRY  THB 

1  HIRD 

in  sanctuary,  but  hunger  compelled  1216 
him  to  surrender ;  he  was  thrown 
a  prisoner  into  the  Tower,  and 
though  soon  released  he  remained 
powerless  in  the  realm.  His  fall 
left  England  without  a  check  to 
the  rule  of  Henry  himself. 

There  was  a  certain  refinement 
in  Henry's  temper  which  won  him 
affection  even  in  the  worst  days  Aliens 
of  his  rule.  The  Abbey-church  of 
Westminster,  with  which  he  re- 
placed the  ruder  minster  of  the 
Confessor,  remains  a  monument  of 
his  artistic  taste.  He  was  a  patron 
and  friend  of  artists  and  men  of 
letters,  and  himself  skilled  in  the 
"  gay  science "  of  the  troubadour, 
the  impiety  of  his  father  he  was 
political  capacity  which  had  been 


HENRY  III.  CARRYING  THE  HOLY  BLOOD  IN  PROCESSION  TO  WESTMINSTER,  A.D.  1247- 

Drawn    by    Matthew    Paris. 
MS.  C.C.C.  Camb.  xvi. 

the   characteristic   of  his   house  he  had  little  or  none.      Profuse, 
changeable,  impulsive  alike  in  good  and  ill,  unbridled  in  tempe, 


272 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


I2l6 

TO 
1257 


SEC.  v  and  tongue,  reckless  in  insult  and  wit,  Henry's  delight  was  in 
HENRY  THE  the  display  of  an  empty  and  prodigal  magnificence,  his  one 
notion  of  government  a  dream  of  arbitrary  power.  But  frivolous 
as  the  King's  mood  was,  he  clung  with  a  weak  man's  obstinacy 
to  a  distinct  line  of  policy.  He  cherished  the  hope  of  recover- 
ing his  heritage ,  across  the  sea.  He  believed  in  the  absolute 
power  of  the  Crown  ;  and  looked  on  the  pledges  of  the  Great 
Charter  as  promises  which  force  had  wrested  from  the  King 

and  which  force  could  wrest 
back  again.  The  claim  which 
the  French  kings  were  ad- 
vancing to  a  divine  and  abso- 
lute power  gave  a  sanction 
in  Henry's  mind  to  the  claim 
of  absolute  authority  which 
was  still  maintained  by  his 
favourite  advisers  in  the  royal 
council.  The  death  of  Lang- 
ton,  the  fall  of  Hubert  de 
Burgh,  left  him  free  to  sur- 
round himself  with  dependent 
ministers,  mere  agents  of  the 
royal  will.  Hosts  of  hungry 
Poitevins  and  Bretons  were 
at  once  summoned  over  to 
occupy  the  royal  castles  and 
fill  the  judicial  and  adminis- 
trative posts  about  the  Court. 
His  marriage  with  Eleanor 

1236  of  Provence  was  followed  by  the  arrival  in  England  of  the 
Queen's  uncles.  The  "  Savoy,"  as  his  house  in  the  Strand  was 
named,  still  recalls  Peter  of  Savoy,  who  arrived  five  years  later  to 
take  for  a  while  the  chief  place  at  Henry's  council-board  ;  another 
brother,  Boniface,  was  on  Archbishop  Edmund's  death  consecrated 
to  the  highest  post  in  the  realm  save  the  Crown  itself,  the  Arch- 
bishoprick  of  Canterbury.  The  young  Primate,  like  his  brother, 
brought  with  him  foreign  fashions  strange  enough  to  English  folk. 
His  armed  retainers  pillaged  the  markets.  His  own  archiepiscopal 


MARRIAGE    OF    HENRY    III. 

Drawn  by  Matthew  Paris. 

MS,  Roy.  14  C.  •vii. 


Ill 


THE    GREAT    CHARTER 


273 


fist  felled  to  the  ground  the  prior  of  St.  Bartholomew-by-Smith-      SEC.  v 
field,    who   opposed    his   visitation.     London  was    roused   bv  the  HE.™ 

3  THI 


KL> 

1216 

TO 

1257 


A    ROYAL    MARRIAGE. 

Probably  drawn  by  Matthew  Paris. 

MS.  Cott.  Nero  D.  i. 


outrage  ;   on    the    King's    refusal    to  do  justice  a  noisy  crowd  of 
citizens  surrounded  the  Primate's  house  at  Lambeth  with  cries  of 


EDMUND,     SON    OF    HENRY    III.,    IN    HIS    CRADLE,     1244. 

Drawn  by  Matthew  Paris. 

MS.  Roy.  14  C.  vii. 


vengeance,  and  the  "  handsome  archbishop/'  as  his  followers  styled 
him,  was  glad  to  escape  over  sea.     This  brood  of  Provencals  was 
VOL.  I— 18 


274 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  V 


I2l6 

TO 
1257 


followed  in  1243  by  the  arrival  of  the  Poitevin  relatives  of  John's 
HENRY  THE  queen,    Isabella   of    Angouleme.      Aymer   was    made    Bishop   of 

THIRD  *  J 

Winchester  ;  William  of  Valence  received  the  earldom  of  Pembroke. 
Even  the  King's  jester  was  a  Poitevin.  Hundreds  of  their 
dependants  followed  these  great  lords  to  find  a  fortune  in  the 
English  realm.  The  Poitevin  lords  brought  in  their  train  a  bevy 
of  ladies  in  search  of  husbands,  and  three  English  earls  who  were 
in  royal  wardship  were  wedded  by  the  King  to  foreigners.  The 
whole  machinery  of  administration  passed  into  the  hands  of  men 


KING    AND    COURT. 

Probably  drawn  by  Matthew  Paris. 

MS.  Cott.  Nero  D.  i. 


ignorant  and  contemptuous  of  the  principles  of  English  govern- 
ment or  English  law.  Their  rule  was  a  mere  anarchy ;  the  very 
retainers  of  the  royal  household  turned  robbers,  and  pillaged 
foreign  merchants  in  the  precincts  of  the  Court ;  corruption  invaded 
the  judicature  ;  Henry  de  Bath,  a  justiciar,  was  proved  to  have 
openly  taken  bribes  and  to  have  adjudged  to  himself  disputed 
estates. 

That  misgovernment  of   this    kind    should   have   gone   on    un- 
checked, in  defiance  of  the  provisions  of  the  Charter,  was  owing  to 
Church     the  disunion  and  sluggishness  of  the  English  baronage.     On  the 
first  arrival  of  the  foreigners,  Richard,  the  Earl  Marshal,  a  son  of 
the  great    Regent,   stood    forth   as    their   leader   to    demand    the 


The 
Barons 
and  the 


Ill 


THE    GREAT    CHARTER 


expulsion  of  the  strangers  from  the  royal  Council,  and  though 
deserted  by  the  bulk  of  the  nobles,  he  defeated  the  foreign  forces 
sent  against  him,  and  forced  the  King  to  treat  for  peace.  But  at 
this  moment  the  Earl  was  drawn  by  an  intrigue  of  Peter  des 
Roches  to  Ireland  ;  he  fell  in  a  petty  skirmish,  and  the  barons 
were  left  without  a  head.  Edmund  Rich,  whom  we  have  seen 
as  an  Oxford  teacher  and  who  had  risen  to  the  Archbishoprick  of 
Canterbury,  forced  the  King  to  dismiss  Peter  from  court  ;  but 
there  was  no  real  change  of  system,  and  the  remonstrances  of  the 


275 


SEC.  V 

ENRV    Tl 

THIRD 
I2l6 

TO 
"57 

"34 


fScf 


CONSECRATION    OF    ARCHBISHOP    EDMUND. 

Drawn  by  Matthew  Paris. 

MS.  Roy.   14  C.  vii. 


Archbishop  and  of  Robert  Grosseteste,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  re- 
mained fruitless.  In  the  long  interval  of  misrule  which  followed, 
the  financial  straits  of  the  King  forced  him  to  heap  exaction  on 
exaction.  The  Forest  Laws  were  used  as  a  means  of  extortion, 
sees  and  abbeys  were  kept  vacant,  loans  were  wrested  from  lords 
and  prelates,  the  Court  itself  lived  at  free  quarters  wherever  it 
moved.  Supplies  of  this  kind  however  were  utterly  insufficient  to 
defray  the  cost  of  the  King's  prodigality.  A  sixth  of  the  royal 
revenue  was  wasted  in  pensions  to  foreign  favourites.  The  debts 
of  the  Crown  mounted  to  four  times  its  annual  income.  Henry 
was  forced  to  appeal  to  the  Great  Council  of  the  realm,  and  aid 
was  granted  on  condition  that  the  King  confirmed  the  Charter. 
The  Charter  was  confirmed  and  steadily  disregarded  ;  and  the 


276 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  V 

HENRY  THE    and 
THIRD 

I2l6 

TO 
1257 

1242 


resentment  of  the  barons  expressed  itself  in  a  determined  protest 
a  refusal  of  further  subsidies.  In  spite  of  their  refusal 
however  Henry  gathered  money  enough  for  a  costly  expedition 
for  the  recovery  of  Poitou.  The  attempt  ended  in  failure  and 
shame.  At  Taillebourg  the  forces  under  Henry  fled  in  disgraceful 
rout  before  the  French  as  far  as  Saintes,  and  only  the  sudden 
illness  of  Lewis  the  Ninth  and  a  disease  which  scattered  his  army 
saved  Bordeaux  from  the  conquerors.  The  treasury  was  drained, 
and  Henry  was  driven  to  make  a  fresh  appeal  to  the  baronage. 
The  growing  resolution  of  the  nobles  to  enforce  good  government 
was  seen  in  their  demand  that  the  confirmation  of  the  Charter  was 


HENRY    III.    SAILING    HOME    FROM    GASCONY,    1243. 

Drawn  by  Matthew  Paris. 

MS.  Roy.  14  C.  vii. 

to  be  followed  by  the  election  of  Justiciar,  Chancellor,  and 
Treasurer  in  the  Great  Council,  and  that  a  perpetual  Council  was 
to  attend  the  King  and  devise  further  reforms.  The  plan  broke 
against  Henry's  resistance  and  a  Papal  prohibition.  The  scourge 
of  Papal  taxation  fell  heavily  on  the  clergy.  After  vain  appeals 
to  Rome  and  to  the  King,  Archbishop  Edmund  retired  to  an  exile 
of  despair  at  Pontigny,  and  tax-gatherer  after  tax-gatherer  with 
powers  of  excommunication,  suspension  from  orders,  and  presenta- 
tion to  benefices,  descended  on  the  unhappy  priesthood.  The 
wholesale  pillage  kindled  a  wide  spirit  of  resistance.  Oxford  gave 
the  signal  by  hunting  a  Papal  legate  out  of  the  city,  amid  cries  of 
"  usurer  "  and  "  simoniac  "  from  the  mob  of  students.  Fulk  Fitz- 


Ill 


THE    GREAT    CHARTER 


277 


Warenne  in  the  name  of  the  barons  bade  a  Papa!  collector  begone 
out  of  England.  "If  you  tarry  three  days  longer,"  he  added, "  you 
and  your  company  shall  be  cut  to  pieces."  For  a  time  Henry 
himself  was  swept  away  by  the  tide  of  national  indignation. 
Letters  from  the  King,  the  nobles  and  the  prelates  protested 
against  the  Papal  exactions,  and  orders  were  given  that  no  money 
should  be  exported  from  the  realm.  But  the  threat  of  interdict 


LEGATINE    COUNCIL    IN    LONDON,    A.D.     1237. 

Drawn  by  Matthew  Paris. 

MS.  Roy.  14  C.  vii. 


soon  drove  Henry  back  on  a  policy  of  spoliation,  in  which  he  went 
hand  in  hand  with  Rome. 

The  story  of  this  period  of  misrule  has  been  preserved  for  us  by    Matthew 
an  annalist  whose  pages  glow  with  the  new  outburst  of  patriotic   Iaoo_,a5g 
feeling  which  this  common  oppression  of  the  people  and  the  clergy 
had  produced.     Matthew  Paris  is  the  greatest,  as  he  is  in  reality 
the  last,  of  our  monastic  historians.     The  school  of  S.  Albans  sur- 
vived indeed  till  afar  later  time,  but  the  writers  dwindled  into  mere 
annalists  whose  view  is  bounded  by  the  abbey  precincts,  and  whose 
work  is  as  colourless  as  it  is  jejune.     In  Matthew  the  breadth  and 
precision   of  the  narrative,  the  copiousness  of  his  information  on 
topics  whether  national    or    European,  the    general   fairness    and 


278  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  v      justice  of  his  comments,  are  only  surpassed  by  the  patriotic  fire  and 
HENRY  THE  enthusiasm  of  the  whole.     He  had  succeeded  Roger  of  Wendover 

THIRD 

1216  as  chronicler  at  S.  Alban's  ;  and  the  Greater  Chronicle  with  an 
1257  abridgement  of  it  which  has  long  passed  under  the  name  of 
Matthew  of  Westminster,  a  "  History  of  the  English,"  and  the 
"  Lives  of  the  Earlier  Abbots,"  were  only  a  few  among  the 
voluminous  works  which  attest  his  prodigious  industry.  He  was 
an  artist  as  well  as  an  historian,  and  many  of  the  manuscripts 
which  are  preserved  are  illustrated  by  his  own  hand.  A  large 
circle  of  correspondents — bishops  like  Grosseteste,  ministers  like 
Hubert  de  Burgh,  officials  like  Alexander  de  Swereford — furnished 
him  with  minute  accounts  of  political  and  ecclesiastical  proceed- 
ings. Pilgrims  from  the  East  and  Papal  agents  brought  news  of 
foreign  events  to  his  scriptorium  at  S.  Alban's.  He  had  access  to 
and  quotes  largely  from  state  documents,  charters,  and  exchequer 
rolls.  The  frequency  of  the  royal  visits  to  the  abbey  brought  him 
a  store  of  political  intelligence,  and  Henry  himself  contributed  to 
the  great  chronicle  which  has  preserved  with  so  terrible  a  faithful- 
ness the  memory  of  his  weakness  and  misgovernment.  On  one 
solemn  feast-day  the  King  recognized  Matthew,  and  bidding  him 
sit  on  the  middle  step  between  the  floor  and  the  throne,  begged 
him  to  write  the  story  of  the  day's  proceedings.  While  on  a 
visit  to  S.  Alban's  he  invited  him  to  his  table  and  chamber,  and 
enumerated  by  name  two  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  English 
baronies  for  his  information.  But  all  this  royal  patronage  has  left 
little  mark  on  his  work.  "  The  case,"  as  he  says,  "  of  historical 
wri-ters  is  hard,  for  if  they  tell  the  truth  they  provoke  men,  and  if 
they  write  what  is  false  they  offend  God."  With  all  the  fulness  of 
the  school  of  court  historians,  such  as  Benedict  or  Hoveden, 
Matthew  Paris  combines  an  independence  and  patriotism 'which  is 
strange  to  their  pages.  He  denounces  with  the  same  unsparing 
energy  the  oppression  of  the  Papacy  and  the  King.  His  point  of 
view  is  neither  that  of  a  courtier  nor  of  a  churchman,  but  of  an 
Englishman,  and  the  new  national  tone  of  his  chronicle  is  but  an 
echo  of  the  national  sentiment  which  at  last  bound  nobles  and 
yeomen  and  churchmen  together  into  a  people  resolute  to  wrest 
freedom  from  the  Crown. 


ofcuU  l4AnKiffeWn.itijA.fi 
Mrttrafitif  * 
m~>  ftfliii,tr 
f«n?it»»..\i«T; 


MATTHEW   PARIS   AT   THE   FEET  OF   THE   VIRGIN   AND   CHILD 
From  his  own  drawing,  MS.  Roy.  14  C.  VII. 


Ill 


THE    GREAT    CHARTER 


279 


Section  VI.— The    Friars 


SEC.  VI 


THE 
FRIARS 


[Authorities, — Eccleston's  Tract  on  their  arrival  in  England  and  Adam 
Marsh's  Letters,  with  Mr.  Brewer's  admirable  Preface,  in  the  "  Monumenta 
Franciscana"  of  the  Rolls  series.  Grosseteste's  Letters  in  the  same  series, 
edited  by  Mr.  Luard.  For  a  general  account  of  the  whole  movement,  see 
Milman's  "  Latin  Christianity,"  vol.  iv.  caps.  9  and  10.] 

From  the  tedious  record  of  misgovernment  and  political  England 
weakness  which  stretches  over  the  forty  years  we  have  passed  church 
through,  we  turn  with  relief  to  the  story  of  the  Friars. 

Never,  as  we  have  seen,  had  the  priesthood  wielded  such 
boundless  power  over  Christendom  as  in  the  days  of  Innocent 
the  Third  and  his  immediate  successors.  But  its  religious  hold 


THE    PAPAL    COURT. 

MS.  Camb.   Univ.  Libr.  Ee.  Hi.  59. 

c.  A.D.  1245. 

on  the  people  was  loosening  day  by  day.  The  old  reverence 
for  the  Papacy  was  fading  away  before  the  universal  resentment 
at  its  political  ambition,  its  lavish  use  of  interdict  and  excom- 
munication for  purely  secular  ends,  its  degradation  of  the  most 
sacred  sentences  into  means  of  financial  extortion.  In  Italy 


280 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE         CHAP,  in 


SEC.  vi  the  struggle  that  was  opening  between  Rome  and  Frederick 
THE  the  Second  disclosed  a.  spirit  of  scepticism  which  among  the 
Epicurean  poets  of  Florence  denied  the  immortality  of  the  soul, 
and  attacked  the  very  foundations  of  the  faith  itself.  In  Southern 
Gaul,  Languedoc  and  Provence  had  embraced  the  heresy  of  the 
Albigenses,  and  thrown  off  all  allegiance  to  the  Papacy.  Even 
in  England,  though  there  were  no  signs  as  yet  of  religious 
revolt,  and  though  the  political  action  of  Rome  had  been  in  the 
main  on  the  side  of  freedom,  there  was  a  spirit  of  resistance 


KING    AND    ARCHITECT. 


BUILDERS     AT    WORK. 


FOUNDATION   OF   A    MINSTER. 

Probably    drawn    by    Matthew    Paris. 

MS.  Cott.  Nero  D.  i. 


to  its  interference  with  national  concerns  which  broke  out  in 
the  struggle  against  John.  "The  Pope  has  no  part  in  secular 
matters,"  had  been  the  reply  of  London  to  the  interdict  of 
Innocent.  And  within  the  English  Church  itself  there  was  much 
to  call  for  reform.  Its  attitude  in  the  strife  for  the  Charter  as 
well  as  the  after  work  of  the  Primate  had  made  it  more  popular 
than  ever ;  but  its  spiritual  energy  was  less  than  its  political. 
The  disuse  of  preaching,  the  decline  of  the  monastic  orders  into 
rich  landowners,  the  non-residence  and  ignorance  of  the  parish 
priests,  robbed  the  clergy  of  spiritual  influence.  The  abuses  of 


INVESTITURE    OF    ABBOT. 


OFFERING     UP    FOUNDATION    CHARTER. 


TRANSLATION     OF     RELICS. 


FOUNDATION    OF   A   MINSTER. 

Probably    drawn    by    Matthew    Paris. 

MS.  Cott.  Nero  D.  i. 


282  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE        CHAP,  m 


SEC.  vi      the  time  foiled  even  the  energy  of  such  men  as  Bishop  Grosseteste 
THE        of  Lincoln.      His  constitutions  forbid  the  clergy  to  haunt  taverns, 

FRIARS 

to  gamble,  to  share  in  drinking  bouts,  to  mix  in  the  riot  and 
debauchery  of  the  life  of  the  baronage.  But  such  prohibitions 
only  witness  to  the  prevalence  of  the  evils  they  denounce. 
Bishops  and  deans  were  withdrawn  from  their  ecclesiastical 
duties  to  act  as  ministers,  judges  or  ambassadors.  Benefices  were 
heaped  in  hundreds  at  a  time  on  royal  favourites  like  John 
Mansel.  Abbeys  absorbed  the  tithes  of  parishes,  and  then  served 
them  by  half-starved  vicars,  while  exemptions  purchased  from 
Rome  shielded  the  scandalous  lives  of  canons  and  monks  from  all 
episcopal  discipline.  And  behind  all  this  was  a  group  of  secular 
statesmen  and  scholars,  waging  indeed  no  open  warfare  with  the 
Church,  but  noting  with  bitter  sarcasm  its  abuses  and  its  faults. 
The  To  bring  the  world  back  again  within  the  pale  of  the  Church 

Friars  was  ^e  ajm  of  j-wo  religious  orders  which  sprang  suddenly  to  life 
at  the  opening  of  the  thirteenth  century.  The  zeal  of  the 
Spaniard  Dominic  was  roused  at  the  sight  of  the  lordly  prelates 
who  sought  by  fire  and  sword  to  win  the  Albigensian  heretics 
to  the  faith.  "  Zeal,"  he  cried,  "  must  be  met  by  zeal,  lowliness 
by  lowliness,  false  sanctity  by  real  sanctity,  preaching  lies  by 
preaching  truth."  His  fiery  ardour  and  rigid  orthodoxy  were 
seconded  by  the  mystical  piety,  the  imaginative  enthusiasm  of 
Francis  of  Assisi.  The  life  of  Francis  falls  like  a  stream  of  tender 
light  across  the  darkness  of  the  time.  In  the  frescoes  of  Giotto 
or  the  verse  of  Dante  we  see  him  take  Poverty  for  his  bride.  He 
strips  himself  of  all,  he  flings  his  very  clothes  at  his  father's  feet, 
that  he  may  be  one  with  Nature  and  God.  His  passionate  verse 
claims  the  Moon  for  his  sister  and  the  Sun  for  his  brother,  he  calls 
on  his  brother  the  Wind,  and  his  sister  the  Water.  His  last  faint 
cry  was  a  "  Welcome,  Sister  Death  ! "  Strangely  as  the  two  men 
differed  from  each  other,  their  aim  was  the  same — to  convert  the 
heathen,  to  extirpate  heresy,  to  reconcile  knowledge  with  ortho- 
doxy, to  carry  the  Gospel  to  the  poor.  The  work  was  to  be  done 
by  the  entire  reversal  of  the  older  monasticism,  by  seeking 
personal  salvation  in  effort  for  the  salvation  of  their  fellow-men, 
by  exchanging  the  solitary  of  the  cloister  for  the  preacher,  the 
monk  for  the  friar.  To  force  the  new  "  brethren "  into  entire 


JOHN    OK    WALI.INGFORD,     MONK    OF    S.    ALBANS,     1231  — 1258. 

Drawing  attributed  to  Matthew  Paris. 

MS.  Coil.  Jul.  D.  vii. 


284 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  VI 


THE 
FRIARS 


dependence  on  those  among  whom  they  laboured  their  vow  of 
Poverty  was  turned  into  a  stern  reality  ;  the  "  Begging  Friars " 
were  to  subsist  on  the  alms  of  the  poor,  they  might  possess 
neither  money  nor  lands,  the  very  houses  in  which  they  lived  were 
to  be  held  in  trust  for  them  by  others.  The  tide  of  popular 
enthusiasm  which  welcomed  their  appearance  swept  before  it  the 
reluctance  of  Rome,  the  jealousy  of  the  older  orders,  the  opposi- 
tion of  the  parochial  priesthood. 
Thousands  of  brethren  gathered 
in  a  few  years  round  Francis 
and  Dominic  ;  and  the  begging 
preachers,  clad  in  their  coarse 
frock  of  serge  with  a  girdle  of 
rope  round  their  waist,  wandered 
barefooted  as  missionaries  over 
Asia,  battled  with  heresy  in  Italy 
and  Gaul,  lectured  in  the  Univer- 
sities, and  preached  and  toiled 
among  the  poor. 

To  the  towns  especially  the 
coming  of  the  Friars  was  a  re- 
ligious revolution.  They  had  been 
left  for  the  most  part  to  the  worst 
and  most  ignorant  of  the  clergy, 
the  mass-priest,  whose  sole  sub- 
sistence lay  in  his  fees.  Burgher 
and  artisan  were  left  to  spell  out 
what  religious  instruction  they 
might  from  the  gorgeous  cere- 
monies of  the  Church's  ritual,  or 
the  scriptural  pictures  and  sculp- 
tures which  were  graven  on  the 
walls  of  its  minsters.  We  can 
hardly  wonder  at  the  burst  of  en- 
thusiasm which  welcomed  the  itinerant  preacher,  whose  fervid 
appeal,  coarse  wit,  and  familiar  story  brought  religion  into  the  fair 
and  the  market-place.  The  Black  Friars  of  Dominic,  the  Grey 
1221-1224  Friars  of  Francis,  were  received  with  the  same  delight.  As  the 


The 

Friars 

and  the 

Towns 


A     FRANCISCAN. 

Drawn  by  Matthew  Paris. 

JI/S.  C.C.C.  Camb   xvi. 


in  THE    GREAT    CHARTER  285 

older  orders  had  chosen  the  country,  the  Friars  chose  the  town.  SEC.  vi 
They  had  hardly  landed  at  Dover  before  they  made  straight  for  THE 
London  and  Oxford.  In  their  ignorance  of  the  road  the  two  fir^t 
Grey  Brothers  lost  their  way  in  the  woods  between  Oxford  and 
Baldon,  and  fearful  of  night  and  of  the  floods,  turned  aside  to  a 
grange  of  the  monks  of  Abingdon.  Their  ragged  clothes  and 
foreign  gestures,  as  they  prayed  for  hospitality,  led  the  porter  to 
take  them  for  jongleurs,  the  jesters  and  jugglers  of  the  day,  and 
the  news  of  this  break  in  the  monotony  of  their  lives  brought  prior, 
sacrist,  and  cellarer  to  the  door  to  welcome  them  and  witness  their 
tricks.  The  disappointment  was  too  much  for  the  temper  of  the 
monks,  and  the  brothers  were  kicked  roughly  from  the  gate  to 
find  their  night's  lodging  under  a  tree.  But  the  welcome  of  the 
townsmen  made  up  everywhere  for  the  ill-will  and  opposition  of 
both  clergy  and  monks.  The  work  of  the  Friars  was  physical  as 
well  as  moral.  The  rapid  progress  of  population  within  the 
boroughs  had  outstripped  the  sanitary  regulations  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  fever  or  plague  or  the  more  terrible  scourge  of  leprosy 
festered  in  the  wretched  hovels  of  the  suburbs.  It  was  to  haunts 
such  as  these  that  Francis  had  pointed  his  disciples,  and  the  Grey 
Brethren  at  once  fixed  themselves  in  the  meanest  and  poorest 
quarters  of  each  town.  Their  first  work  lay  in  the  noisome  lazar- 
houses  ;  it  was  amongst  the  lepers  that  they  commonly  chose  the 
site  of  their  homes.  At  London  they  settled  in  the  shambles  of 
Newgate  ;  at  Oxford  they  made  their  way  to  the  swampy  ground 
between  its  walls  and  the  streams  of  Thames.  Huts  of  mud  and 
timber,  as  mean  as  the  huts  around  them,  rose  within  the  rough 
fence  and  ditch  that  bounded  the  Friary.  The  order  of  Francis 
made  a  hard  fight  against  the  taste  for  sumptuous  buildings  and 
for  greater  personal  comfort  which  characterized  the  time.  "  I  did 
not  enter  into  religion  to  buiid  walls,"  protested  an  English 
provincial  when  the  brethren  pressed  for  a  larger  house  ;  and 
Albert  of  Pisa  ordered  a  stone  cloister,  which  the  burgesses  of 
Southampton  had  built  for  them,  to  be  razed  to  the  ground. 
"  You  need  no  little  mountains  to  lift  your  heads  to  heaven,"  was 
his  scornful  reply  to  a  claim  for  pillows.  None  but  the  sick  went 
shod.  An  Oxford  Friar  found  a  pair  of  shoes  one  morning,  and 
wore  them  at  matins.  At  night  he  dreamt  that  robbers  leapt  on 


286  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  vi     him  in   a  dangerous  pass    between    Gloucester   and   Oxford  with 
THE        shouts    of    "  Kill,    kill ! "     "I    am    a    friar,"    shrieked    the    terror- 

FRIARS 

stricken  brother.  "  You  lie,"  was  the  instant  answer,  "  for  you  go. 
shod."  The  Friar  lifted  up  his  foot  in  disproof,  but  the  shoe 
was  there.  In  an  agony  of  repentance  he  woke  and  flung  the 
pair  out  of  window. 

The  it  was  with  less  success  that  the  order  struggled  against  the 

Friars 
and  the    passion  for  knowledge.     Their  vow  of  poverty,  rigidly  interpreted 

sities"  as  it  was  by  their  founders,  would  have  denied  them  the  posses- 
sion of  books  or  materials  for  study.  "  I  am  your  breviary,  I  am 
your  breviary,"  Francis  cried  passionately  to  a  novice  who  asked 
for  a  psalter.  When  the  news  of  a  great  doctor's  reception  was 
brought  to  him  at  Paris,  his  countenance  fell.  "  I  am  afraid,  my 
son,"  he  replied,  "  that  such  doctors  will  be  the  destruction  of  my 
vineyard.  They  are  the  true  doctors  who  with  the  meekness  of 
wisdom  show  forth  good  works  for  the  edification  of  their  neigh- 
bours." At  a  later  time  Roger  Bacon,  as  we  have  seen,  was 
suffered  to  possess  neither  ink,  parchment,  nor  books  ;  and  only 
the  Pope's  injunctions  could  dispense  with  the  stringent  obser- 
vance of  the  rule.  But  one  kind  of  knowledge  indeed  their  work 
almost  forced  on  them.  The  popularity  of  their  preaching  soon 
led  them  to  the  deeper  study  of  theology.  Within  a  short  time 
after  their  establishment  in  England  we  find  as  many  as  thirty 
readers  or  lecturers  appointed  at  Hereford,  Leicester,  Bristol,  and 
other  places,  and  a  regular  succession  of  teachers  provided  at  each 
University.  The  Oxford  Dominicans  lectured  on  theology  in  the 
nave  of  their  new  church,  while  philosophy  was  taught  in  the 
cloister.  The  first  provincial  of  the  Grey  Friars  built  a  school  in 
their  Oxford  house,  and  persuaded  Grosseteste  to  lecture  there. 
His  influence  after  his  promotion  to  ths  see  of  Lincoln  was 
steadily  exerted  to  secure  study  among  the  Friars,  and  their 
establishment  in  the  University.  He  was  ably  seconded  by  his 
scholar,  Adam  Marsh,  or  de  Marisco,  under  whom  the  Franciscan 
school  at  Oxford  attained  a  reputation  throughout  Christendom. 
Lyons,  Paris,  and  Koln  borrowed  from  it  their  professors  :  it  was 
owing,  indeed,  to  its  influence  that  Oxford  now  rose  to  a  position 
hardly  inferior  to  that  of  Paris  itself  as  a  centre  of  scholasticism. 
The  three  most  profound  and  original  of  the  school-men — Roger 


Ill 


THE    GREAT    CHARTER 


287 


SEC.  VI 


THE 
FRIARS 


Bacon,  Duns  Scotus,  and  Ockham — were  among  its  scholars  ;  and 
they  were  followed  by  a  crowd  of  teachers  hardly  less  illustrious 
in  their  day. 

But  the  result  of  this  powerful  impulse  was  soon  seen  to  be  fatal    Schplas- 
to  the  wider  intellectual  activity  which  had  till  now  characterized 


ALEXANDER    HALES,    FRANCISCAN,    A.D.     1228 — 1250. 

MS.  Camb.    Univ.  Libr.  Mm.  v.  31. 


the  Universities.  Theology  in  its  scholastic  form,  which  now  found 
its  only  efficient  rivals  in  practical  studies  such  as  medicine  and 
law,  resumed  its  supremacy  in  the  schools  ;  while  Aristotle,  who 
had  been  so  long  held  at  bay  as  the  most  dangerous  foe  of 
mediaeval  faith,  was  now  turned  by  the  adoption  of  his  logical 
method  vn  the  discussion  and  definition  of  theological  dogma  into 


288  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  vi  its  unexpected  ally.  It  was  this  very  method  that  led  to  ''that 
THE  unprofitable  subtlety  and  curiosity  "  which  Lord  Bacon  notes  as 
the  vice  of  the  scholastic  philosophy.  But  "  certain  it  is  "-^to 
continue  the  same  great  thinker's  comment  on  the  Friars—"  that 
if  these  schoolmen  to  their  great  thirst  of  truth  and  unwearied 
travel  of  wit  had  joined  variety  of  reading  and  contemplation, 
they  had  proved  excellent  lights  to  the  great  advancement  of  all 
learning  and  knowledge."  What,  amidst  all  their  errors,  they 
undoubtedly  did  was  to  insist  on  the  necessity  of  rigid  demonstra- 
tion and  a  more  exact  use  of  words,  to  introduce  a  clear  and 
methodical  treatment  of  all  subjects  into  discussion,  and  above  all 
to  substitute  an  appeal  to  reason  for  unquestioning  obedience  to 
authority.  It  was  by  this  critical  tendency,  by  the  new  clearness 
and  precision  which  scholasticism  gave  to  enquiry,  that  in  spite  of 
the  trivial  questions  with  which  it  often  concerned  itself,  it  trained 
the  human  mind  through  the  next  two  centuries  to  a  temper  which 
fitted  it  to  profit  by  the  great  disclosure  of  knowledge  that  brought 
about  the  Renascence.  And  it  is  to  the  same  spirit  of  fearless 
enquiry  as  well  as  to  the  strong  popular  sympathies  which  their 
very  constitution  necessitated  that  we  must  attribute  the  influence 
which  the  Friars  undoubtedly  exerted  in  the  coming  struggle 
between  the  people  and  the  Crown.  Their  position  is  clearly  and 
strongly  marked  throughout  the  whole  contest.  The  University 
of  Oxford,  which  had  now  fallen  under  the  direction  of  their 
teaching,  stood  first  in  its  resistance  to  Papal  exactions  and  its 
claim  of  English  liberty.  The  classes  in  the  towns  on  whom  the 
influence' of  the  Friars  told  most  directly  were  the  steady  sup- 
porters of  freedom  throughout  the  Barons'  war.  Adam  Marsh 
was  the  closest  friend  and  confidant  both  of  Grosseteste  and  Earl 
Simon  of  Montfort. 


Ill 


THE  GREAT  CHARTER 


289 


SEC.  VII 

THE 

BARONS' 

WAR 

1258 

TO 
1265 


Section  VII. — The    Barons'    War,  1258 — 1265 

[Authorities. — At  the  very  outset  of  this  important  period  we  lose  the  price- 
less aid  of  Matthew  Paris.  He  is  the  last  of  the  great  chroniclers  ;  the  Chroni- 
cles of  his  successor  at  S.  Alban's,  Rishanger  (published  by  the  Master  of  the 
Rolls),  are  scant  and  lifeless  jottings,  somewhat  enlarged  for  this  period  by  his 
fragment  on  the  Barons'  War  (published  by  Camden  Society).  Something  may 
be  gleaned  from  the  annals  of  Burton,  Melrose,  Dunstable,  Waverley,  Osney, 
and  Lanercost,  the  Royal  Letters,  the  (royalist)  Chronicle  of  Wykes,  and  (for 
London)  the  "  Liber  de  Antiquis  Legibus."  Mr.  Blaauw  has  given  a  useful 
summary  of  the  period  in  his  '*  Barons'  War."] 


When  a  thunder- 
storm once  forced  the 
King,  as  he  was  row- 
ing on  the  Thames,  to 
take  refuge  at  the 
palace  of  the  Bishop  of 
Durham,  Earl  Simon 
of  Montfort,  who  was 
a  guest  of  the  prelate, 
met  the  royal  barge 
with  assurances  that 
the  storm  was  drifting 
away,  and  that  there 
was  nothing  to  fear. 
Henry's  petulant  wit 
broke  out  in  his  re- 
ply. "If  I  fear  the 
thunder,"  said  the 
King,  "  I  fear  you,  Sir 
Earl,  more  than  all 
the  thunder  in  the 
world." 

The    man     whom      Simon 
Henry  dreaded  as  the  Montfort 
champion  of  English 

freedom  was  himself  a  foreigner,  the  son  of  a  Simon  dc  Montfort 
whose   name    has    become    memorable    for    his   ruthless    crusade 
VOL.  1—19 


SIMON    DE    MONTFORT. 
Window  in  Chartres  Cathedral,  c.   1231. 


29o  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  vii     against   the    Albigensian    heretics    in    Southern    Gaul.      Though 
THE       fourth  son  of  this  crusader,  Simon  became  possessor  of  the  English 

BARONS' 

WAR       earldom  of  Leicester,  which  he  inherited  through  his  mother,  and 
1258 
TO        a  secret  match  with  Eleanor,  the  King's  sister  and  widow  of  the 

second  William  Marshal,  linked  him  to  the  royal  house.  The 
baronage,  indignant  at  this  sudden  alliance  with  a  stranger,  rose 
in  a  revolt  which  failed  only  through  the  desertion  of  their  head, 
Earl  Richard  of  Cornwall  ;  while  the  censures  of  the  Church  on 
Eleanor's  breach  of  a  vow  of  chastity,  which  she  had  made  at 
1239-1241  her  first  husband's  death,  were  hardly  averted  by  a  journey  to 
Rome.  Simon  returned  to  find  the  changeable  King  quickly 
alienated  from  him  and  to  be  driven  by  a  burst  of  royal  passion 
from  the  realm.  He  was,  however,  soon  restored  to  favour,  and 
before  long  took  his  stand  in  the  front  rank  of  the  patriot  leaders. 
In  1248  he  was  appointed  Governor  of  Gascony,  where  the  stern 
justice  of  his  rule,  and  the  heavy  taxation  which  his  enforcement 
of  order  made  necessary,  earned  the  hatred  of  the  disorderly 
1248  nobles.  The  complaints  of  the  Gascons  brought  about  an  open 
breach  with  the  King.  To  Earl  Simon's  offer  of  the  surrender  of 
his  post  if  the  money  he  had  spent  in  the  royal  service  were, 
as  Henry  had  promised,  repaid  him,  the  King  hotly  retorted  that 
he  was  bound  by  no  promise  to  a  false  traitor.  Simon  at  once 
gave  Henry  the  lie  ;  "  and  but  that  thou  bearest  the  name  of 
King  it  had  been  a  bad  hour  for  thee  when  thou  utteredst  such  a 
word  !  "  A  formal  reconciliation  was  brought  about,  and  the  Earl 
once  more  returned  to  Gascony,  but  before  winter  had  come  he 
was  forced  to  withdraw  to  France.  The  greatness  of  his  reputa- 
tion was  shown  in  an  offer  which  its  nobles  made  him  of  the 
regency  of  their  realm  during  the  absence  of  King  Lewis  on  the 
crusade.  But  the  offer  was  refused  ;  and  Henry,  who  had  himself 
undertaken  the  pacification  of  Gascony,  was  glad  before  the  close 
of  1253  to  recall  its  old  ruler  to  do  the  work  he  had  failed  to  do. 
Simon's  character  had  now  thoroughly  developed.  He  had  in- 
herited the  strict  and  severe  piety  of  his  father  ;  he  was  assidu- 
ous in  his  attendance  on  religious  services  whether  by  night  or  day: 
he  was  the  friend  of  Grosseteste  and  the  patron  of  the  Friars.  In 
his  correspondence  with  Adam  Marsh  we  see  him  finding 
patience  under  his  Gascon  troubles  in  the  perusal  of  the  Book  of 


Ill 


THE    GREAT    CHARTER 


291 


Job.       His  life  was  pure  and  singularly  temperate  ;  he  was  noted 
for  his  scant  indulgence  in  meat,  drink,  or  sleep.     Socially  he  was 
cheerful  and  pleasant  in  talk  ;  but  his  natural  temper  was  quick 
and    ardent,    his    sense   of    honour    keen,    his    speech   rapid    and 
trenchant.     His    impatience    of    contradiction,    his    fiery   temper, 
were  in  fact  the  great  stumbling-blocks  in  his  after  career.    But  the 
one  characteristic  which  overmastered  all  was  what  men  at  that 
time  called  his  "  constancy,"  the  firm  immoveable   resolve  which 
trampled  even  death  under  foot  in  its  loyalty  to  the  right.      The 
motto  which  Edward 
the  First  chose  as  his 
device, "  Keep  troth," 
was   far  truer  as  the 
device  of  Earl  Simon. 
We  see  in  his  corre- 
spondence with  what 
a   clear  discernment 
of  its  difficulties  both 
at  home  and  abroad 
he    "  thought    it  un- 
becoming to  decline 
the     danger    of    so 
great  an  exploit  "  as 
the  reduction  of  Gas- 
cony   to    peace   and 
order  ;  but  once  un- 
dertaken,   he    perse- 
vered in  spite  of  the 

opposition  he  met  with,  the  failure  of  all  support  or  funds  from 
England,  and  the  King's  desertion  of  his  cause,  till  the  work  was 
done.  There  is  the  same  steadiness  of  will  and  purpose  in  his 
patriotism.  The  letters  of  Grosseteste  show  how  early  he  had 
learned  to  sympathize  with  the  bishop  in  his  resistance  to  Rome, 
and  at  the  crisis  of  the  contest  he  offers  him  his  own  support 
and  that  of  his  associates.  He  sends  to  Adam  Marsh  a  tract  of 
Grosseteste's  on  "  the  rule  of  a  kingdom  and  of  a  tyranny,"  sealed 
with  his  own  seal.  He  listens  patiently  to  the  advice  of  his 
friends  on  the  subject  of  his  household  or  his  temper.  "  Better  is 


SEAL    OF    SIMON    DE    MONTFORT. 
British  Museum. 


SEC.  VII 

THE 

BARONS' 

WAR 

1258 

TO 
1265 


292  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  vii     a  patient  man,"  writes  honest  Friar  Adam,  "  than  a  strong  man, 
THE        and  he  who  can  rule  his  own  temper  than  he  who  storms  a  city." 

BARONS  ' 

WAR       <<  What  use  is  it  to  provide  for  the  peace  of  your  fellow-citizens  and 
1258 
TO         not  guard  the  peace  of  your  own  household  ?  "       It  was  to  secure 

"  the  peace  of  his  fellow-citizens  "  that  the  Earl  silently  trained 
himself  as  the  tide  of  misgovernment  mounted  higher  and  higher, 
and  the  fruit  of  his  discipline  was  seen  when  the  crisis  came. 
While  other  men  wavered  and  faltered  and  fell  away,  the  enthusi- 
astic love  of  the  people  gathered  itself  round  the  stern,  grave 
soldier  who  "  stood  like  a  pillar,"  unshaken  by  promise  or  threat 
or  fear  of  death,  by  the  oath  he  had  sworn. 

The  Pro-  In  England  affairs  were  going  from  bad  to  worse.  The  Pope 
visions  stjjj  wejghed  heavily  on  the  Church.  Two  solemn  confirmations  of 
Oxford  the  Charter  failed  to  bring  about  any  compliance  with  its  pro- 
visions. In  1248,  in  1249,  and  again  in  1255,  the  Great  Council 
fruitlessly  renewed  its  demand  for  a  regular  ministry,  and  the 
growing  resolve  of  the  nobles  to  enforce  good  government  was 
seen  in  their  offer  of  a  grant  on  condition  that  the  chief  officers 
of  the  Crown  were  appointed  by  the  Council.  Henry  indignantly 
refused  the  offer,  and  sold  his  plate  to  the  citizens  of  London  to 
find  paymsnt  for  his  household.  The  barons  were  mutinous  and 
defiant.  "  I  will  send  reapers  and  reap  your  fields  for  you,"  Henry 
had  threatened  Earl  Bigod  of  Norfolk  when  he  refused  him  aid. 
"  And  I  will  send  you  back  the  heads  of  your  reapers,"  retorted  the 
Earl,.  Hampered  by  the  profusion  of  the  court  and  by  the  refusal 
of  supplies,  the  Crown  was  penniless,  yet  new  expenses  were  in- 
1254  curred  by  Henry's  acceptance  of  a  Papal  offer  of  the  kingdom  of 
Sicily  in  favour  of  his  second  son  Edmund.  Shame  had  fallen  on 
the  English  arms,  and  the  King's  eldest  son,  Edward,  had  been 
disastrously  defeated  on  the  Marches  by  Llewelyn  of  Wales.  The 
tide  of  discontent,  which  was  heightened  by  a  grievous  famine, 
burst  its  bounds  in  the  irritation  excited  by  the  new  demands  from 
both  Henry  and  Rome  with  which  the  year  1258  opened,  and  the 
barons  repaired  in  arms  to  a  Great  Council  summoned  at  London. 
The  past  half-century  had  shown  both  the  strength  and  weakness 
of  the  Charter :  its  strength  as  a  rallying-point  for  the  baronage, 
and  a  definite  assertion  of  rights  which  the  King  could  be  made 
to  acknowledge ;  its  weakness  in  providing  no  means  for.  the 


Ill 


THE    GREAT    CHARTER 


293 


enforcement  of  its  own  stipulations.  Henry  had  sworn  again  and 
again  to  observe  the  Charter,  and  his  oath  was  no  sooner  taken 
than  it  was  unscrupulously  broken.  The  barons  had  secured  the 
freedom  of  the  realm  ;  the  secret  of  their  long  patience  during  the 
reign  of  Henry  lay  in  the  difficulty  of  securing  its  right  adminis- 
tration. It  was  this  difficulty  which  Earl  Simon  was  prepared  to 
solve.  With  the  Earl  of  Gloucester  he  now  appeared  at  the  head  of 


SEC.  VI  [ 

THE 

BARONS' 

WAR 

1258 

TO 
1265 


KINGS     IX    ARMOUR. 

MS.  Camb.    Univ.  Libr.  Ee.  Hi.  59. 

c.  A.D.  1245. 


the  baronage  in  arms,  and  demanded  the  appointment  of  a  com- 
mittee of  twenty-four  to  draw  up  terms  for  the  reform  of  the  state. 
Although  half  the  committee  consisted  of  royal  ministers  and 
favourites,  it  was  impossible  to  resist  the  tide  of  popular  feeling. 
By  the  "  Provisions  of  Oxford  "  it  was  agreed  that  the  Great 
Council  should  assemble  thrice  in  the  year,  whether  summoned  by 
the  King  or  no  ;  and  on  each  occasion  "  the  Commonalty  shall  July  1258 
elect  twelve  honest  men  who  shall  come  to  the  Parliaments,  and  at 
other  times  when  occasion  shall  be  when  the  King  and  his  Council 


Provi- 


294  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE        CHAP,  in 

SEC.  vn     shall  send  for  them,  to  treat  of  the  wants  of  the  King  and  of  his 
THE  .     kingdom.      And  the  Commonalty  shall  hold    as    established  that 

BARONS 

WAR       which  these  Twelve  shall  do."      Three  permanent  committees  were 
1258 
TO         named — one  to  reform  the  Church,  one  to  negotiate  financial  aids, 

and  a  Permanent  Council  of  Fifteen  to  advise  the  King  in  the 
ordinary  work  of  government.  The  Justiciar,  Chancellor,  and  the 
guardians  of  the  King's  castles  swore  to  act  only  with  the  advice 
and  assent  of  the  Permanent  Council,  and  the  first  two  great 
officers,  with  the  Treasurer,  were  to  give  account  of  their  proceed- 
ings to  it  at  the  end  of  the  year.  Annual  sheriffs  were  to  be 
appointed  from  among  the  chief  tenants  of  the  county,  and  no 
undue  fees  were  to  be  exacted  for  the  administration  of  justice  in 
their  court. 

A  royal  proclamation  in  the  English  tongue,  the  first  in  that 
tongue  since  the  Conquest  which  has  reached  us,  ordered  the 
observance  of  these  Provisions.  Resistance  came  only  from  the 
foreign  favourites,  and  an  armed  demonstration  drove  them  in  flight 
over  sea.  The  whole  royal  power  was  now  in  fact  in  the  hands  of 
the  committees  appointed  by  the  Great  Council ;  and  the  policy  of 
the  administration  was  seen  in  the  prohibitions  against  any 
further  payments,  secular  or  ecclesiastical,  to  Rome,  in  the  formal 
withdrawal  from  the  Sicilian  enterprise,  in  the  negotiations  con- 
ducted by  Earl  Simon  with  France,  which  finally  ended  in  the 
absolute  renunciation  of  Henry's  title  to  his  lost  provinces,  and  in 
the  peace  which  put  an  end  to  the  incursions  of  the  Welsh. 
1259  Within,  however,  the  measures  of  the  barons  were  feeble  and  selfish. 
The  Provisions  of  Westminster,  published  by  them  under  popular 
pressure  in  the  following  year,  for  the  protection  of  tenants  and 
furtherance  of  justice,  brought  little  fruit ;  and  a  tendency  to 
mere  feudal  privilege  showed  itself  in  an  exemption  of  all  nobles 
and  prelates  from  attendance  at  the  sheriffs'  courts.  It  was  in 
vain  that  Earl  Simon  returned  from  his  negotiations  in  France  to 
press  for  more  earnest  measures  of  reform,  or  that  the  King's  son 
Edward  remained  faithful  to  his  oath  to  observe  the  Provisions, 
and  openly  supported  him.  Gloucester  and  Hugh  Bigod,  faithless 
to  the  cause  of  reform,  drew  with  the  feudal  party  to  the  side  of 
the  King ;  and  Henry,  procuring  from  the  Pope  a  bull  which  an- 
nulled the  Provisions  and  freed  him  from  his  oath  to  observe  them, 


5 


rtfitUHfii 

^ftwtt™ 

m* 


296  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE             CHAP. 

SEC.  vii  regained  possession  of  the  Tower  and  the  other  castles,  appointed 

THE  a   new  Tusticiar,  and  restored  the  old  authority  of  the  Crown. 

BARONS 

WAR  Deserted  as  he  was,  the  Earl  of  Leicester  was  forced  to  with- 
1258 

TO  draw  for  eighteen  months  to  France,  while   Henry  ruled  in  open 

—  defiance  of  the  Provisions.      The  confusion  of  the  realm  renewed 

r»*i^ 

Struggle  the   disgust    at   his   government  ;    and   the   death    of   Gloucester 


removed  the  one  barrier  to  action.  In  1263  Simon  landed  again 
as  the  unquestioned  head  of  the  baronial  party.  The  march  of 
Edward  with  a  royal  army  against  Llewelyn  of  Wales  was  viewed 
by  the  barons  as  a  prelude  to  hostilities  against  themselves  ;  and 
1263  Earl  Simon  at  once  swept  the  Welsh  border,  marched  on  Dover, 
and  finally  appeared  before  London.  His  power  was  strengthened 
by  the  attitude  of  the  towns.  The  new  democratic  spirit  which 
we  have  witnessed  in  the  Friars  was  now  stirring  the  purely  in- 
dustrial classes  to  assert  a  share  in  the  municipal  administration, 
which  had  hitherto  been  confined  to  the  wealthier  members  of  the 
merchant  gilds,  and  at  London  and  elsewhere  a  revolution,  which 
will  be  described  at  greater  length  hereafter,  had  thrown  the 
government  of  the  city  into  the  hands  of  the  lower  citizens. 
The  "  Communes,"  as  the  new  city-governments  were  called, 
showed  an  enthusiastic  devotion  to  Earl  Simon  and  his  cause. 
The  Queen  was  stopped  in  her  attempt  to  escape  from  the  Tower 
by  an  angry  mob,  who  drove  her  back  with  stones  and  foul  words. 
When  Henry  attempted  to  surprise  Leicester  in  his  quarters  in 
.  Southwark,  the  Londoners  burst  the  gates  which  had  been  locked 
by  the  richer  burghers  against  him,  and  rescued  him  by  a  welcome 
into  the  city.  The  clergy  and  Universities  went  in  sympathy 
with  the  towns,  and  in  spite  of  the  taunts  of  the  royalists, 
who  accused  him  of  seeking  allies  against  the  nobility  in  the 
common  people,  the  popular  enthusiasm  gave  a  strength  to 
Earl  Simon  which  enabled  him  to  withstand  the  severest  blow 
which  had  yet  been  dealt  to  his  cause.  The  nobles  drew  to  the 
King.  The  dread  of  civil  war  gave  strength  to  the  cry  for  com- 
promise, and  it  was  agreed  that  the  strife  should  be  left  to  the 
Mise  of  arbitration  of  Lewis  the  Ninth  of  France.  In  the  Mise  of  Amiens 
m  ms  LCWJS  gave  his  verdict  wholly  in  favour  of  the  King.  The  Pro- 
visions of  Oxford  were  annulled.  Only  the  charters  granted 
before  the  Provisions  were  to  be  observed.  The  appointment  and 


Ill 


THE    GREAT    CHARTER 


297 


removal  of  all  officers  of  state  was  to  be  wholly  with  the  King' 
and  he  was  suffered  to  call  aliens  to  his  councils.     The  blow  was  a 
hard  one,  and  the  decision  of  Lewis  was  at  once  confirmed  by  the 
Pope.     The  barons  felt  themselves  bound  by  the  award  ;  only  the 
exclusion   of  aliens — a  point  which    they   had    not   purposed   to 
submit  to  arbitration — they 
refused  to  concede.     Simon 
at  once  resolved  on  resist- 
ance.    Luckily,  the  French 
award     had     reserved     the 
rights  of  Englishmen  to  the 
liberties  they  had  enjoyed 
before     the    Provisions    of 
Oxford,  and  it  was  easy  for 
Simon    to   prove   that   the 
arbitrary  power  it  gave  to 
the  Crown  was  as  contrary 
to    the    Charter   as    to   the 
Provisions  themselves.  Lon- 
don was  the  first  to  reject 
the    decision ;     its    citizens 
mustered  at  the  call  of  the 
town-bell   at    Saint    Paul's, 
seized    the    royal    officials, 
and     plundered    the    royal 
parks.      But   an  army  had 
already  mustered    in   great 
force    at  the    King's    sum- 
mons, and   Leicester  found 
himself  deserted  by  baron 
after    baron.       Every    day 
brought    news    of   ill.      A 
detachment  from   Scotland 
joined    Henry's    forces.      The   younger    De    Montfort  was   taken 
prisoner.     Northampton  was  captured,  the  King  raised  the  siege 
of  Rochester,  and    a   rapid    march  of   Earl    Simon's  only  saved 
London  itself  from  a  surprise  by  Edward.      Betrayed  as  he  was, 
the  Earl  remained   firm  to  the  cause.     He    would    fight   to   the 


SEC.  VII 

THE 

BARONS' 

WAR 

1258 

TO 
1265 


KING    OF    FRANCE. 

MS.  Roy.  2  A.  xxii. 

Late  Thirteenth  Century. 


298  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE         CHAP,  in 

SEC.  vii     end,   he   said,   even    were   he   and    his  .sons   left   to   fight    alone. 
THE       With  an  army  reinforced  by  15,000  Londoners,  he    marched    to 

BARONS  *  J        •" 

WAR       the     relief    of    the    Cinque    Ports,   which    were    now    threatened 
1258 

TO  by  the  King.  Even  on  the  march  he  was  forsaken  by  many 
of  the  nobles  who  followed  him.  Halting  at  Fletching  in 
Sussex,  a  few  miles  from  Lewes,  where  the  royal  army  was  en- 
camped, Earl  Simon  with  the  young  Earl  of  Gloucester  offered 
the  King  compensation  for  all  damage  if  he  would  observe  the 
Provisions.  Henry's  answer  was  one  of  defiance,  and  though 
Battle  of  numbers  were  against  him  the  Earl  resolved  on  battle.  His  skill 

Lcrwcs 

May  14,  as  a  soldier  reversed  the  advantages  of  the  ground  ;  marching  at 
4  dawn  he  seized  the  heights  eastward  of  the  town,  and  moved 
down  these  slopes  to  an  attack.  His  men,  with  white  crosses  on 
back  and  breast,  knelt  in  prayer  before  the  battle  opened. 
Edward  was  the  first  to  open  the  fight  ;  his  furious  charge  broke 
the  Londoners  on  Leicester's  left,  and  in  the  bitterness  of  his 
hatred  he  pursued  them  for  four  miles,  slaughtering  three  thousand 
men.  He  returned  to  find  the  battle  lost.  Crowded  in  the 
narrow  space  with  the  river  in  their  rear,  the  royalist  centre  and 
left  were  crushed  by  Earl  Simon  ;  the  Earl  of  Cornwall,  now  King 
of  the  Romans,  who,  as  the  mocking  song  of  the  victors  ran, 
"  makede  him  a  castel  of  a  mulne  post "  ("  he  weened  that  the 
mill-sails  were  mangonels  "  goes  on  the  sarcastic  verse),  was  made 
prisoner,  and  Henry  himself  captured.  Edward  cut  his  way  into 
the  Priory  only  to  join  in  his  father's  surrender. 

Simon's  The  victory  of  Lewes  placed  Earl  Simon  at  the  head  of  the 
state.  "  Now  England  breathes  in  the  hope  of  liberty,"  sang  a 
poet  of  the  time  ;  "  the  English  were  despised  like  dogs,  but  now 
they  have  lifted  up  their  head  and  their  foes  are  vanquished."  The 
song  announces  with  almost  legal  precision  the  theory  of  the 
patriots.  "  He  who  would  be  in  truth  a  king,  he  is  a  '  free  king ' 
indeed  if  he  rightly  rule  himself  and  his  realm.  All  things  are 
lawful  to  him  for  the  government  of  his  kingdom,  but  nothing  for 
its  destruction.  It  is  one  thing  to  rule  according  to  a  king's  duty, 
another  to  destroy  a  kingdom  by  resisting  the  law."  "Let  the 
community  of  the  realm  advise,  and  let  it  be  known  what  the 
generality,  to  whom  their  own  laws  are  best  known,  think  on  the 
matter.  They  who  are  ruled  by  the  laws  know  those  laws  best, 


3oo  HISTORY    OF    THE     ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC  vii     they   who   make  daily  trial   of  them    are  best   acquainted   with 
THE  ,     them  ;  and  since  it  is  their  own  affairs  which  are  at  stake,  they  will 

BARONS  * 

WAR        take  more  care,  and  will  act  with  an  eye  to  their  own  peace."     "It 
1258 

TO  concerns  the  community  to  see  what  sort  of  men  ought  justly  to 
be  chosen  for  the  weal  of  the  realm."  The  constitutional  restric- 
tions on  the  royal  authority,  the  right  of  the  whole  nation  to 
deliberate  and  decide  on  its  own  affairs,  and  to  have  a  voice  in 
the  selection  of  the  administrators  of  government,  had  never  been 
so  clearly  stated  before.  But  the  moderation  of  the  terms  agreed 
upon  in  the  Mise  of  Lewes,  a  convention  between  the  King  and  his 
captors,  shows  Simon's  sense  of  the  difficulties  of  his  position. 
The  question  of  the  Provisions  was  again  to  be  submitted  to 
arbitration  ;  and  a  parliament  in  June,  to  which  four  knights  were 
summoned  from  every  county,  placed  the  administration  till  this 
arbitration  was  complete  in  the  hands  of  a  new  council  of  nine,  to 
be  nominated  by  the  Earls  of  Leicester  and  Gloucester  and  the 
patriotic  Bishop  of  Chichester.  Responsibility  to  the  community 
was  provided  for  by  the  declaration  of  a  right  in  the  body  of 
barons  and  prelates  to  remove  either  of  the  Three  Electors, 
who  in  turn  could  displace  or  appoint  the  members  of  the  Council. 
Such  a  constitution  was  of  a  different  order  from  the  cumbrous 
and  oligarchical  Committees  of  1258.  But  the  plans  for  arbitra- 
tion broke  down,  Lewis  refused  to  review  his  decision,  and  the 
Pope  formally  condemned  the  barons'  cause.  The  Earl's  difficul- 
ties thickened  every  day.  The  Queen  gathered  an  army  in  France 
for  an  invasion,  and  the  barons  on  the  Welsh  border  were  still 
in  arms.  It  was  impossible  to  make  binding  terms  with  an  im- 
prisoned King,  yet  to  release  Henry  without  terms  was  to  renew 
the  war.  A  new  parliament  was  summoned  in  January,  1265,  to 
Westminster,  but  the  weakness  of  the  patriotic  party  among  the 
baronage  was  shown  in  the  fact  that  only  twenty-three  earls  and 
barons  could  be  found  to  sit  beside  the  hundred  and  twenty 
ecclesiastics.  But  it  was  just  this  sense  of  his  weakness  that 
drove  Earl  Simon  to  a  constitutional  change  of  mighty  issue  in 
Summons  our  history.  As  before,  he  summoned  two  knights  from  every 
of  the  county.  But  he  created  a  new  force  in  English  politics  when  he 

Commons  • 

to  Parlia-  summoned  to  sit  beside  them  two  citizens  from  every  borough. 
The  attendance  of  delegates  from  the  towns  had  long  been  usual 


in  THE    GREAT  .CHARTER  301 

in  the  county  courts  when   any  matter  respecting  their  interests     SEC.  vn 
was  in  question  ;  but   it  was  the  writ  issued  by  Earl  Simon  that        THE 

BARONS' 

first  summoned   the   merchant   and  the  trader  to  sit  beside  the       WAR 
knight  of  the  shire,  the  baron,  and  the  bishop  in  the  parliament  of        TO 
the  realm. 

It  is  only  this  great  event  however  which  enables  us  to  under-  The  Fall 
stand  the  large  and  prescient  -nature  of  Earl  Simon's  designs.  Simon 
Hardly  a  few  months  had  passed  since  the  victory  of  Lewes,  and 
already,  when  the  burghers  took  their  seats  at  Westminster,  his 
government  was  tottering  to  its  fall.  Dangers  from  without  the 
Earl  had  met  with  complete  success  ;  a  general  muster  of  the 
national  forces  on  Barham  Down  put  an  end  to  the  projects  of 
invasion  entertained  by  the  mercenaries  whom  the  Queen  had 
collected  in  Flanders  ;  the  threats  of  France  died  away  into  nego- 
tiations ;  the  Papal  Legate  was  forbidden  to  cross  the  Channel, 
and  his  bulls  of  excommunication  were  flung  into  the  sea.  But  1264 
the  difficulties  at  home  grew  more  formidable  every  day.  The 
restraint  upon  Henry  and  Edward  jarred  against  the  national 
feeling  of  loyalty,  and  estranged  the  mass  of  Englishmen  who 
always  side  with  the  weak.  Small  as  the  patriotic  party  among 
the  barons  had  always  been,  it  grew  smaller  as  dissensions  broke 
out  over  the  spoils  of  victory.  The  Earl's  justice  and  resolve  to 
secure  the  public  peace  told  heavily  against  him.  John  Giffard 
left  him  because  he  refused  to  allow  him  to  exact  ransom  from  a 
prisoner  contrary  to  the  agreement  made  after  Lewes.  The 
young  Earl  Gilbert  of  Gloucester,  though  enriched  with  the  estates 
of  the  foreigners,  resented  Leicester's  prohibition  of  a  tournament,  ' 
his  naming  the  wardens  of  the  royal  castles  by  his  own  authority, 
and  his  holding  Edward's  fortresses  on  the  Welsh  marches 
by  his  own  garrisons.  Gloucester's  later  conduct  proves  the 
wisdom  of  Leicester's  precautions.  In  the  spring  Parliament  of 
1265  he  openly  charged  the  Earl  with  violating  the  Mise  of 
Lewes  with  tyranny,  and  with  aiming  at  the  crown.  Before  its 
close  he  withdrew  to  his  own  lands  in  the  west,  and  secretly  allied 
himself  with  Roger  Mortimer  and  the  Marcher  barons.  Earl 
Simon  soon  followed  him  to  the  west,  taking  with  him  the  King 
and  Edward.  He  moved  along  the  Severn,  securing  its  towns, 
advanced  westward  to  Hereford,  and  was  marching  at  the  end  of 


302  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP, 

SEC.  vii     June  along  bad  roads  into  the  heart  of  South  Wales  to  attack  the 
THE        fortresses  of  Earl  Gilbert  in  Glamorgan  when  Edward  suddenly 

BARONS 

WA*        made  his  escape  from  Hereford  and  joined  Gloucester  at  Ludlow. 

TO         The  moment  had  been  skilfully  chosen,  and  Edward  showed  a  rare 
1265 

ability  in  the  movements  by  which  he   took  advantage    of    the 

Earl's  position.  Moving  rapidly  along  the  Severn  he  seized 
Gloucester  and  the  bridges  across  the  river,  destroyed  the  ships  by 
which  Leicester  strove  to  escape  across  the  Channel  to  Bristol,  and 
cut  him  off  altogether  from  England.  By  this  movement  too  he 
placed  himself  between  the  Earl  and  his  son  Simon,  who  was 
advancing  from  the  east  to  his  father's  relief.  Turning  rapidly  on 
this  second  force  Edward  surprised  it  at  Kenilworth  and  drove  it 
with  heavy  loss  within  the  walls  of  the  castle.  But  the  success 
was  more  than  compensated  by  the  opportunity  which  his  absence 
gave  to  the  Earl  of  breaking  the  line  of  the  Severn.  Taken  by  sur- 
prise and  isolated  as  he  was,  Simon  had  been  forced  to  seek  for  aid 
and  troops  in  an  avowed  alliance  with  Llewelyn,  and  it  was  with 
Welsh  reinforcements  that  he  turned  to  the  east.  But  the  seizure 
of  his  ships  and  of  the  bridges  of  the  Severn  held  him  a  prisoner 
in  Edward's  grasp,  and  a  fierce  attack  drove  him  back,  with 
broken  and  starving  forces,  into  the  Welsh  hills.  In  utter  despair 
he  struck  northward  to  Hereford  ;  but  the  absence  of  Edward  now 
enabled  him  on  the  2nd  of  August  to  throw  his  troops  in  boats 
across  the  Severn  below  Worcester.  The  news  drew  Edward 
quickly  back  in  a  fruitless  counter-march  to  the  river,  for  the 
Earl  had  already  reached  Evesham  by  a  long  night  march  on  the 

morning  of  the  4th,  while  his  son,  relieved   in  turn  by  Edward's 
» 

counter-march,  had  pushed  in  the  same  night  to  the  little  town  of 

Alcester.  The  two  armies  were  how  but  ten  miles  apart,  and  their 
junction  seemed  secured.  But  both  were  spent  with  long  march- 
ing, and  while  the  Earl,  listening  reluctantly  to  the  request  of  the 
King,  who  accompanied  him,  halted  at  Evesham  for  mass  and 
dinner,  the  army  of  the  younger  Simon  halted  for  the  same 
purpose  at  Alcester. 

Battle  of         "  Those   two   dinners    doleful    were,   alas  !  "    sings    Robert    of 

Evesham  Qioucester ;  for  through  the  same  memorable  night  Edward  was 

hurrying  back  from  the  Severn  by  country  cross-lanes  to  seize  the 

fatal  gap  that  lay  between  them.       As  morning  broke  his  army 


in  THE    GREAT    CHARTER  303 

lay  across  the  road  that  led  northward  from  Evesham  to  Alcester.     SEC.  vn 
Evesham  lies  in  the  loop  of  the  river  Avon  where   it  bends    to        THE 

BARONS 

the    south  ;    and    a   height  on   which   Edward  ranged   his    troops        WAR 

closed  the  one  outlet  from  it  save  across  the  river.     But  a  force         TO 

1265 


KNIGHT    IN    ARMOUR. 

MS.  Roy.  3  A.  xxii. 
Late  Thirteenth  Century. 

had  been  thrown  over  the  river  under  Mortimer  to  seize  the 
bridges,  and  all  retreat  was  thus  finally  cut  off.  The  approach  of 
Edward's  army  called  Simon  to  the  front,  and  for  the  moment  he 
took  it  for  his  son's.  Though  the  hope  soon  died  away  a  touch  of 
soldierly  pride  moved  him  as  he  recognized  in  the  orderly  advance 


3o4  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE        CHAP,  in 

SEC.  vii     of  his  enemies  a  proof  of  his  own  training.       "  By  the  arm  of  St. 
THE  ,      Tames,"  he  cried,  "  they  come  on  in  wise  fashion,  but  it  was  from 

BARONS        J  ' 

WAR       me  that  they  learnt  it."     A  glance  however  satisfied  him  of  the 
1258 
TO         hopelessness  of  a    struggle ;    it  was  impossible  for  a  handful  of 

horsemen  with  a  mob  of  half-armed  Welshmen  to  resist  the 
disciplined  knighthood  of  the  royal  army.  "  Let  us  commend  our 
souls  to  God,"  Simon  said  to  the  little  group  around  him,  "  for  our 
bodies  are  the  foe's."  He  bade  Hugh  Despenser  and  the  rest  of 
his  comrades  fly  from  the  field.  "If.  he  died,"  was  the  noble 
answer,  "  they  had  no  will  to  live."  In  three  hours  the.  butchery 
was  over.  The  Welsh  fled  at  the  first  onset  like  sheep,  and  were 
cut  ruthlessly  down  in  the  cornfields  and  gardens  where  they 
sought  refuge.  The  little  group  of  knights  around  Simon  fought 
desperately,  falling  one  by  one  till  the  Earl  was  left  alone.  So 
terrible  were  his  sword-strokes  that  he  had  all  but  gained  the  hill- 
top when  a  lance-thrust  brought  his  horse  to  the  ground,  but 
Simon  still  rejected  the  summons  to  yield,  till  a  blow  from  behind 
felled  him,  mortally  wounded,  to  the  ground.  '  Then  with  a  last  cry 
of  "  It  is  God's  grace  "  the  soul  of  the  great  patriot  passed  away. 


THE   VIRGIN   AND   CHILD 
From  MS.  Roy.  2  A.  XXII.  ijth  Century 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE    THREE-  EDWARDS 

1265  —  1360 
Section  I.  —  The  Conquest  of  "Wales,  1265—1284 

[Authorities.  —  For  the  general  state  of  Wales,  see  the  "  Itinerarium  Cam- 
briae"  of  Giraldus  Cambrensis  :  for  its  general  history,  the  "Brut  y  Tywy- 
sogion,"  and  "  Annales  Cambriae,"  published  by  the  Master  of  the  Rolls  ;  the 
Chronicle  of  Caradoc  of  Lancarvan,  as  given  in  the  translation  by  Powel  ;  and 
Warrington's  ''History  of  Wales."  Stephen's  "Literature  of  the  Cymry1' 
affords  a  general  view  of  Welsh  poetry  ;  the  '  Mabinogion  "have  been  published 
by  Lady  Charlotte  Guest.  In  his  essays  on  "The  Study  of  Celtic  Literature," 
Mr.  Matthew  Arnold  has  admirably  illustrated  the  characteristics  of  the  Welsh 
Poetry.  For  English  affairs  the  monastic  annals  we  have  before  mentioned  are 
supplemented  by  the  jejune  entries  of  Trivet  and  Murimuth.]  (A  new  edition 
of  the  "  Brut,"  and  the  "  Mabinogion,"  has  been  issued  by  Professor  Rhys  and 
Mr.  J.  Gwenogvryn  Evans  in  their  series  of  Welsh  Texts,  1887,  1890.  A.S.G.) 

WHILE  literature  and  science  after  a  brief  outburst  were  crushed        The 
in  England  by  the  turmoil  of  the  Barons'  War,  a  poetic  revival  had 


brought  into  sharp  contrast  the  social  and  intellectual  condition  of       ture 
Wales. 

To  all  outer  seeming  Wales  had  in  the  thirteenth  century 
become  utterly  barbarous.  Stripped  of  every  vestige  of  the  older 
Roman  civilization  by  ages  of  bitter  warfare,  of  civil  strife,  of 
estrangement  from  the  general  culture  of  Christendom,  the  un- 
conquercd  Britons  had  sunk  into  a  mass  of  savage  herdsmen,  clad 
in  the  skins  and  fed  by  the  milk  of  the  cattle  they  tended,  faithless, 
greedy,  and  revengeful,  retaining  no  higher  political  organization 
than  that  of  the  clan,  broken  by  ruthless  feuds,  united  only  in 
battle  or  in  raid  against  the  stranger.  But  in  the  heart  of  the  wild 
people  there  still  lingered  a  spark  of  the  poetic  fire  which  had 
nerved  it  four  hundred  years  before,  through  Aneurin  and  Lly- 
warch  Hen,  to  its  struggle  with  the  Saxon.  At  the  hour  of  its 

VOL.  I  —  20 


3o6  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE         CHAP,  iv 

SEC.  i       lowest  degradation  the  silence  of  Wales  was  suddenly  broken  by  a 
THE       crowd  of  singers.     The  song  of  the  twelfth  century  burst  forth,  not 

CONQUEST 

OF  WALES    from   one  bard  or  another,  but  from  the  nation   at   large.     "  In 
1265 

TO        every  house,"  says    the  shrewd  Gerald    de  Barri,  "  strangers  who 
1284 

arrived  in  the  morning  were  entertained  till  eventide  with  the  talk 

of  maidens  and  the  music  of  the  harp."  The  romantic  literature  of 
the  race  found  an  admirable  means  of  utterance  in  its  tongue,  as 
real  a  developement  of  the  old  Celtic  language  heard  by  Caesar  as 
the  Romance  tongues  are  developements  of  Caesar's  Latin,  but 
which  at  a  far  earlier  date  than  any  other  language  of  modern 
Europe  had  attained  to  definite  structure  and  to  settled  literary 
form.  No  other  mediaeval  literature  shows  at  its.  outset  the  same 
elaborate  and  completed  organization  as  that  of  the  Welsh.  But 
within  these  settled  forms  the  Celtic  fancy  plays  with  a  startling 
freedom.  In  one  of  the  later  poems  Gwion  the  Little  trans- 
forms himself  into  a  hare,  a  fish,  a  bird,  a  grain  of  wheat ;  but  he  is 
only  the  symbol  of  the  strange  shapes  in  which  the  Celtic  fancy 
embodies  itself  in  the  tales  or  "  Mabinogion  "  which  reached  their 
highest  perfection  in  the  legends  of  Arthur.  Its  gay  extravagance 
flings  defiance  to  all  fact,  tradition,  probability,  and  revels  in  the 
impossible  and  unreal.  When  Arthur  sails  into  the  unknown 
world,  it  is  in  a  ship  of  glass.  The  "  descent  into  hell,"  as  a  Celtic 
poet  paints  it,  shakes  off  the  mediaeval  horror  with  the  mediaeval 
reverence,  and  the  knight  who  achieves  the  quest  spends  his  years 
of  infernal  durance  in  hunting  and  minstrelsy,  and  in  converse 
with  fair  women.  The  world  of  the  Mabinogion  is  a  world  of  pure 
phantasy,  a  new  earth  of  marvels  and  enchantments,  of  dark 
forests  whose  silence  is  broken  by  the  hermit's  bell,  and  sunny 
glades  where  the  light  plays  on  the  hero's  armour.  Each  figure  as 
it  moves  across  the  poet's  canvas  is  bright  with  glancing  colour. 
"  The  maiden  was  clothed  in  a  robe  of  flame-coloured  silk,  and 
about  her  neck  was  a  collar  of  ruddy  gold  in  which  were  precious 
emeralds  and  rubies.  Her  head  was  of  brighter  gold  than  the 
flower  of  the  broom,  her  skin  was  whiter  than  the  foam  of  the 
wave,  and  fairer  were  her  hands  and  her  fingers  than  the  blossoms 
of  the  wood-anemone  amidst  the  spray  of  the  meadow  fountain. 
The  eye  of  the  trained  hawk,  the  glance  of  the  falcon,  was  not 
brighter  than  hers.  Her  bosom  was  more  snowy  than  the  breast 


FACSIMILE    OF    PART    OF    MABINOOIOX. 
•'  Red  Book  of  }[crgcst,"   Welsh  MS.  Fourteenth  Century  ;   now  in  Jesus  College,  O.rford. 


3b8  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  i       of  the  white  swan,  her  cheek  was  redder  than  the  reddest  roses." 
THE        Everywhere  there  is  an  Oriental  profusion  of  gorgeous  imagery,  but 

OF  WALES    the  gorgeousness  is  seldom    oppressive.      The  sensibility   of  the 
1265 

TO         Celtic  temper,  so  quick  to  perceive  beauty,  so  eager  in  its  thirst 
1284 

for  life,  its  emotions,  its  adventures,  its  sorrows,  its  joys,  is  tem- 
pered by  a  passionate  melancholy  that  expresses  its  revolt  against 
the  impossible,  by  an  instinct  of  what  is  noble,  by  a  sentiment 
that  discovers  the  weird  charm  of  nature.  Some  graceful  play  of 
pure  fancy,  some  tender  note  of  feeling,  some  magical  touch  of 
beauty,  relieves  its  wildest  extravagance.  As  Kulhwch's  grey- 
hounds bound  from  side  to  side  of  their  master's  steed,  they 
"  sport  round  him  like  two  sea-swallows."  His  spear  is  "  swifter 
than  the  fall  of  the  dewdrop  from  the  blade  of  reed-grass  upon  the 
earth  when  the  dew  of  June  is  at  the  heaviest."  A  subtle,  obser- 
vant-love of  nature  and  natural  beauty  takes  fresh  colour  from  the 
passionate  human  sentiment  with  which  it  is  imbued,  sentiment 
which  breaks  out  in  Gwalchmai's  cry  of  nature-love,  "  I  love  the 
birds  and  their  sweet  voices  in  the  lulling  songs  of  the  wood,"  in 
his  watches  at  night  beside  the  fords  "  among  the  untrodden 
grass  "  to  hear  the  nightingale  and  watch  the  play  of  the  sea-mew. 
Even  patriotism  takes  the  same  picturesque  form  ;  the  Welsh  poet 
hates  the  flat  and  sluggish  land  of  the  Saxon  ;  as  he  dwells  on  his 
own,  he  tells  of  "  its  sea-coast  and  its  mountains,  its  towns  on  the 
forest  border,  its  fair  landscape,  its  dales,  its  waters,  and  its  valleys, 
its  white  sea-mews,  its  beauteous  women."  But  the  song  passes 
swiftly  and  subtly  into  a  world  of  romantic  sentiment :  "  I  love  its 
fields  clothed  with  tender  trefoil,  I  love  the  marches  of  Merioneth 
where  my  head  was  pillowed  on  a  snow-white  arm."  In  the  Celtic 
love  of  woman  there  is  little  of  the  Teutonic  depth  and  earnestness, 
but  in  its  stead  a  childlike  spirit  of  delicate  enjoyment,  a  faint 
distant  flush  of  passion  like  the  rose-light  of  dawn  on  a  snowy 
mountain  peak,  a  playful  delight  in  beauty.  "  White  is  my  love  as 
the  apple  blossom,  as  the  ocean's  spray  ;  her  face  shines  like  the 
pearly  dew  on  Eryri  ;  the  glow  of  her  cheeks  is  like  the  light  of  sun- 
set." The  buoyant  and  elastic  temper  of  the  French  trouvere  was 
spiritualized  in  the  Welsh  singers  by  a  more  refined  poetic  feeling. 
"  Whoso  beheld  her  was  filled  with  her  love.  Four  white  trefoils 
sprang  up  wherever  she  trod."  The  touch  of  pure  fancy  removes 


IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


309 


its  object  out  of  the  sphere  of  passion  into  one  of  delight  and 
reverence. 

It  is  strange,  as  we  have  said,  to  pass  from  the  world  of  actual 
Welsh  history  into  such  a  world  as  this.  But  side  by  side  with 
this  wayward,  fanciful  stream  of  poesy  and  romance  ran  a  torrent 
of  intenser  song.  The  old  spirit  of  the  earlier  bards,  their  joy  in 
battle,  their  love  for  freedom,  their  hatred  of  the  Saxon,  broke 
out  in  ode  after  ode,  in  songs  extravagant,  monotonous,  often 
prosaic,  but  fused  into  poetry  by  the  intense  fire  of  patriotism 
which  glowed  within  them.  The  rise  of  the  new  poetic  feeling 
indeed  marked  the  appearance  of  a  new  energy  in  the  long  struggle 
with  the  English  conqueror. 

Of  the  three  Welsh  states  into  which  all  that  remained  uncon- 
quered  of  Britain  had  been  broken  by  the  victories  of  Deorham 
and  Chester,  two  had  long  ceased  to  exist.  The  country  between 
the  Clyde  and  the  Dee  had  been  gradually  absorbed  by  the  con- 
quests of  Northumbria  and  the  growth  of  the  Scot  monarchy. 
West  Wales,  between  the  British  Channel  and  the  estuary  of  the 
Severn,  had  yielded  to  the  sword  of  Ecgberht.  But  a  fiercer 
resistance  prolonged  the  independence  of  the  great  central  portion 
which  alone  in  modern  language  preserves  the  name  of  Wales.  In 
itself  the  largest  and  most  powerful  of  the  British  states,  it  was 
aided  in  its  struggle  against  Mercia  by  the  weakness  of  its  as- 
sailant, the  youngest  and  least  powerful  of  the  English  states,  as 
well  as  by  the  internal  warfare  which  distracted  the  energies  of  the 
invaders.  But  Mercia  had  no  sooner  risen  to  supremacy  among 
the  English  kingdoms  than  it  took  the  work  of  conquest  vigorously 
in  hand.  Offa  tore  from  Wales  the  border  land  between  the 
Severn  and  the  Wye  ;  the  raids  of  his  successors  carried  fire  and 
sword  into  the  heart  of  the  country  ;  and  an  acknowledgement  of 
the  Mercian  over-lordship  was  wrested  from  the  Welsh  princes. 
On  the  fall  of  Mercia  this  passed  to  the  West-Saxon  kings.  The 
Laws  of  Howel  Dda  own  the  payment  of  a  yearly  tribute  by  "  the 
prince  of  Aberffraw  "  to  "  the  King  of  London."  The  weakness 
of  England  during  her  long  struggle  with  the  Danes  revived  the 
hopes  of  British  independence.  But  with  the  fall  of  the  Danelaw 
the  Welsh  princes  were  again  brought  to  submission,  and  when  in 
the  midst  of  the  Confessor's  reign  the  Welsh  seized  on  a  quarrel 


SEC.  I 

THE 

CONQUEST 
OF  WALES 
1265 

TO 
1284 


England 
and  the 
Welsh 


1063 


Map  illustrating1 

the 

WELSH  WARS  OF 
HENRY  AND  WILLIAM  RUFUS 

English  Miles 
o 10 20 30 


Ojle r  Freeman  s  William  Rufui. 


Walker  &Boutallco. 


MAP   ILLUSTRATING  THE  WELSH   WARS   OF  WILLIAM    RUFUS   AND   HENRY   I. 
Freeman's  "  William  Rufus." 


CHAP.  IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


between  the  houses  of  Leofric  and  Godwine  to  cross  the  border 
and  carry  their  attacks  into  England  itself,  the  victories  of  Harold 
re-asserted  the  English  supremacy.  His  light-armed  troops  disem- 
barking on  the  coast  penetrated  to 'the  heart  of  the  mountains,  and 
the  successors  of  the  Welsh  prince  Gruffydd,  whose  head  was  the 
trophy  of  the  campaign,  swore  to  observe  the  old  fealty  and  render 
the  old  tribute  to  the  English  Crown. 

A  far  more  desperate  struggle  began  when  the  wave  of  Norman 
conquest  broke  on  the  Welsh  frontier.  A  chain  of  great  earldoms, 
settled  by  William  along  the  border-land,  at  once  bridled  the  old 


SEC.  I 

THE 

CONQUEST 
OF  WALES 

1265 

TO 
1284 


The 

Conquest 

of  South 

Wales 


KEEP    OF    BRIDGEXORTH     CASTLE, 
Built  by  Robert  of  Belesme. 


marauding  forays.  From  his  county  palatine  of  Chester,  Hugh 
the  Wolf  harried  Flintshire  into  a  desert  ;  Robert  of  Belesme,  in  his 
earldom  of  Shrewsbury,  "  slew  the  Welsh,"  says  a  chronicler, 
"  like  sheep,  conquered  them,  enslaved  them,  and  flayed  them  with 
nails  of  iron."  Backed  by  these  greater  baronies  a  horde  of  lesser 
adventurers  obtained  the  royal  "  licence  to  make  conquest  on  the 
Welsh."  Monmouth  and  Abergavenny  were  seized  and  guarded 
by  Norman  castellans  ;  Bernard  of  Neufmarche  won  the  lordship 
of  Brecknock  ;  Roger  of  Montgomery  raised  the  town  and  fortress 


1094 


3I2  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  i       in  Powysland  which  still  preserves  his  name.      A  great  rising  of 
THE        the  whole  people  in  the  days  of   the   second  William  at  last  re- 

CONQUEST  J 

OF  WALES    coverecj  SOme  of   this  Norman  spoil.     The    new  castle  of   Mont- 
1265 
T0         gomery  was  burned,  Brecknock  and  Cardigan  were  cleared  of  the 

invaders,  and  the  Welsh  poured  ravaging  over  the  English  border. 
Twice  the  Red  King  carried  his  arms  fruitlessly  among  the  moun- 
tains, against  enemies  who  took  refuge  in  their  fastnesses  till 
famine  and  hardship  had  driven  his  broken  host  into  retreat.  The 
wiser  policy  of  Henry  the  First  fell  back  on  his  father's  system  of 
gradual  conquest,  and  a  new  tide  of  invasion  flowed  along  the 
coast,  where  the  land  was  level  and  open  and  accessible  from  the 


CARDIFF    CASTLE. 
The  Keep  built  by  Robert  FitzHamo's  Son-in-law,  Earl  Robert  of  Gloucester. 


sea.  The  attack  was  aided  by  internal  strife.  Robert  Fitz-Hamo, 
the  lord  of  Gloucester,  was  summoned  to  his  aid  by  a  Welsh 
chieftain  ;  and  the  defeat  of  Rhys  ap  Tewdor,  the  last  prince  under 
whom  Southern  Wales  was  united,  produced  an  anarchy  which 
enabled  Robert  to  land  safely  on  the  coast  of  Glamorgan,  to 
conquer  the  country  round,  and  to  divide  it  among  his  soldiers. 
A  force  of  Flemings  and  Englishmen  followed  the  Earl  of 
Clare  as  he  landed  near  Milford  Haven,  and  pushing  back  the 
British  inhabitants  settled  a  "  Little  England "  in  the  present 
Pembrokeshire.  A  few  daring  adventurers  accompanied  the 
Norman  Lord  of  Kemeys  into  Cardigan,  where  land  might 


IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


be  had  for  the  winning  by  any  one  who  would  "wage  war  on 
the  Welsh." 

It  was  at   this    moment,   when    the   utter  subjugation  of  the 
British  race  seemed  at  hand,  that  a  new  outburst  of  energy  rolled 
back  the  tide   of    invasion    and  changed  the   fitful  resistance   of 
the  separate  Welsh  provinces    into    a    national    effort   to    regain 
independence.     A    new    poetic    fire,   as    we    have    seen,   sprang 
into    life.     Every    fight,    every    hero,    had     suddenly    its     verse. 
The  names  of  the  older  bards  were  revived    in  bold  forgeries  to 
animate  the  national  resistance  and  to  prophesy  victory.     It  was 
in    North  Wales   that  the  new  spirit  of  patriotism    received    its 
strongest  inspiration  from  this  burst  of  song.     Again  and  again 
Henry  the  Second  was  driven  to  retreat  from  the  impregnable  fast- 
nesses where  the  "  Lords  of  Snowdon,"  the  princes  of  the  house  of 
Gruffydd    ap   Conan,   claimed    supremacy   over   Wales.     Once   a 
cry  arose  that  the  King  was  slain,  Henry  of  Essex   flung  down 
the  royal  standard,  and  the  King's  desperate  efforts  could  hardly 
save  his  army  from  utter  rout.     In  a  later  campaign  the  invaders 
were  met  by  storms  of  rain,  and  forced  to  abandon  their  baggage 
in   a  headlong   flight   to    Chester.     The   greatest   of    the   Welsh 
odes,   that   known    to    English  readers   in    Gray's   translation    as 
"  The  Triumph  of  Owen,"  is  Gwalchmai's  song  of  victory  over 
the    repulse   of    an    English    fleet    from    Abermenai.     The    long 
reigns  of  the  two  Llewelyns,  the  sons  of  Jorwerth  and  of  Gruffydd, 
which   all    but    cover  *the   last  century  of   Welsh   independence, 
seemed   destined  to  realize  the  hopes  of  their  countrymen.     The 
homage  which  the  first  succeeded  in  extorting  from  the  whole  of 
the  Welsh  chieftains  placed  him  openly  at  the  head  of  his  race, 
and  gave  a  new  character  to  his  struggle  with  the  English  King. 
In  consolidating  his  authority  within  his  own  domains,  and  in  the 
assertion  of  his  lordship  over  the  princes  of  the  south,  Llewelyn 
ap   Jorwerth   aimed    steadily  at  securing   the  means  of    striking 
off  the   yoke   of  the    Saxon.     It   was  in  vain    that   John   strove 
to    buy   his    friendship   by    the    hand  of   his  daughter  Johanna. 
Fresh    raids   on    the    Marches    forced    the  King  to  enter  Wales ; 
but  though  his  army  reached  Snowdon  it  fell  back  like  its  pre- 
decessors,  starved    and    broken  before   an  enemy  it  could  never 
reach.      A  second    attack    had    better    success.     The    chieftains 


SEC.  I 

THE 

CONQUEST 
OF  WALES 

1265 

TO 
1284 

The 
Welsh 
Revival 


1157 


1194-1283 


Llewelyn 

ap 

Jorwerth 
1194-1246 


I2II 


314 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  i  of    South   Wales  were  drawn   from  their  new  allegiance  to  join 

THE  the    English    forces,    and  Llewelyn,    prisoned    in    his    fastnesses, 

CONQUEST 

OF  WALES  was   at    jast   driven    to   submit.     But   the   ink  of  the  treaty  was 
1265  * 

TO  hardly   dry  before  Wales  was  again   on   fire  ;    the  common   fear 


1284 


of  the  English  once  more  united  its  chieftains,  and  the  war 
between  John  and  his  barons  removed  all  dread  of  a  new  invasion. 
Absolved  from  his  allegiance  to  an  excommunicated  King,  and 
allied  with  the  barons  under  Fitz-Wa'.tcr — too  glad  to  enlist 
in  their  cause  a  prince  who  could  hold  in  check  the  nobles  of 


PEMBROKE    CASTLE. 
Early    Thirteenth    Century. 


the  border  country,  where  the  royalist  cause  was  strongest — 
Llewelyn  seized  his  opportunity  to  reduce  Shrewsbury,  to  annex 
Powys,  where  the  English  influence  had  always  been  powerful, 
to  clear  the  royal  garrisons  from  Caermarthen  and  Cardigan, 
and  to  force  even  the  Flemings  of  Pembroke  to  do  him 
homage. 

Llewelyn          The  hopes  of  Wales  rose  higher  and  higher  with  each  triumph 
Torwerth    °^  t^ie  Lord  of  Snowdon.     The  court  of  Llewelyn  was  crowded 

and  the    wjth  bardic  singers.     "  He  pours,"  sings  one  of  them,  "  his  gold 
Bards 

into   the   lap   of  the  bard  as  the  ripe  fruit  falls  from  the  trees. 


IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


315 


But    gold    was    hardly    needed    to    wake    their    enthusiasm.     Poet 
after  poet  sang  of  "  the  Devastator  of  England,"  the  "  Eagle  of 


SEC.  I 

THE 

CONQUEST 
OF  WALES 

1265 

TO 
1284 


WELSH      SOLDIERS. 

Thirteenth  Century. 
Chapter  H»use  Liber  A,  Public  Record  Office. 

men  that  loves  not  to  lie  nor  sleep,"  "  towering  above  the  rest 
of  men  with  his  long  'red  lance,"  his  "  red  helmet  of  battle  crested 
with  a  fierce  wolf."  "  The  sound  of 
his  coming  is  like  the  roar  of  the 
wave  as  it  rushes  to  the  shore,  that 
can  neither  be  stayed  nor  appeased." 
Lesser  bards  strung  together  his 
victories  in  rough  jingle  of  rime  and 
hounded  him  on  to  the  slaughter. 
"  Be  of  good  courage  in  the  slaughter," 
sings  Elidir,  "  cling  to  thy  work,  de- 
stroy England,  and  plunder  its  mul- 
titudes." A  fierce  thirst  for  blood 
runs  through  the  abrupt,  passionate 
verses  of  the  court  singers.  "  Swan- 
sea, that  tranquil  town,  was  broken  in 
heaps,"  bursts  out  a  triumphant  poet ; 
"St. Clears, with  its  bright  white  lands, 
it  is  not  Saxons  who  hold  it  now  ! " 
"  In  Swansea,  the  key  of  Lloegria,  we  made  widows  of  all  the 


WELSH     ARCHER. 

Thirteenth  Century. 

Chapter  House  Liber  A,  Public 

Record  Office. 


316 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  I 

THE 

CONQUEST 
OF  WALES 

1265 

TO 
1284 


wives."  "  The  dread  Eagle  is  wont  to  lay  corpses  in  rows,  and  to 
feast  with  the  leader  of  wolves  and  with  hovering  ravens  glutted 
with  flesh,  butchers  with  keen  scent  of  carcases."  "  Better,"  closes 
the  song,  "  is  the  grave  than  the  life  of  man  who  sighs  when 
the  horns  call  him  forth  to  the  squares  of  battle."  But  even 
in  bardic  verse  Llewelyn  rises  high  out  of  the  mere  mob  of 
chieftains  who  live  by  rapine,  and  boast  as  the  Hirlas-horn 
passes  from  hand  to  hand  through  the  hall  that  "they  take 
and  give  no  quarter."  "  Tender-hearted,  wise,  witty,  ingenious," 


,ADY    CHAPEL,    GLASTONBURY. 
Built  1184—1180. 


he  was  "the  great  Caesar"  who  was  to  gather  beneath  his  sway 
the  broken  fragments  of  the  Celtic  race.  Mysterious  prophecies, 
the  prophecies  of  Merlin  the  Wise,  floated  from  lip  to  lip,  to 
nerve  Wales  to  its  last  struggle  with  the  invaders.  Medrawd 
and  Arthur  would  appear  once  more  on  earth  to  fight  over  again 
the  fatal  battle  of  Camlan.  The  last  conqueror  of  the  Celtic 
race,  Cadwallon,  still  lived  to  combat  for  his  people.  The  sup- 
posed verses  of  Taliesin  expressed  the  undying  hope  of  a 
restoration  of  the  Cymry.  "  In  their  hands  shall  be  all  the 


IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


317 


land  from  Britanny  to  Man  :  .  .  .  a  rumour  shall  arise  that  the 
Germans  are  moving  out  of  Britain  back  again  to  their  fatherland." 
Gathered  up  in  the  strange  work  of  Geoffry  of  Monmouth,  these 
predictions  made  a  deep  impression,  not  on  Wales  only,  but  on  its 
conquerors.  It  was  to  meet  indeed  the  dreams  of  a  yet  living 
Arthur  that  the  grave  of  the  legendary  hero-king  at  Glastonbury 
was  found  and  visited  by  Henry  the  Second.  But  neither  trick 
nor  conquest  could  shake  the  firm  faith  of  the  Celt  in  the  ultimate 
victory  of  his  race.  "  Think  you,"  said  Henry  to  a  Welsh 


SEC.  I 

THE 

CONQUEST 
OF  WALES 

1265 

TO 
1284 


LLANTHONY    PRIORY,    NEAR     ABEKGAVENN  Y. 
Built  1200— 1220. 


chieftain  who  had  joined  his  host,  "  that  your  people  of  rebels 
can  withstand  my  army  ? "  "  My  people,"  replied  the  chieftain, 
"may  be  weakened  by  your  might,  and  even  in  great  part 
destroyed,  but  unless  the  wrath  of  God  be  on  the  side  of  its  foe 
it  will  not  perish  utterly.  Nor  deem  I  that  other  race  or  other 
tongue  will  answer  for  this  corner  of  the  world  before  the  Judge 
of  all  at  the  last  day  save  this  people  and  tongue  of  Wales." 
So  ran  the  popular  rime,  "Their  Lord  they  will  praise,  their 
speech  they  shall  keep,  their  land  they  shall  lose— except  wild 
Wales."  Faith  and  prophecy  seemed  justified  by  the  growing 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  I 


THE 

CONQUEST 
OF  WALES 

1265 

TO 
1284 


, 
Gruffydd 

1246-1283 


strength  of  the  British  people.  The  weakness  and  dissensions 
which  characterized  the  reign  of  Henry  the  Third  enabled 
Llewelyn  ap  Jorwerth  to  preserve  a  practical  independence 
till  the  close  of  his  life,  when  a  fresh  acknowledgement  of  the 
English  supremacy  was  wrested 
from  him  by  Archbishop  Ed- 
mund. But  the  triumphs  of  his 
Llewelyn  arms  were  renewed  by  Llewelyn 

S.J. 

the  .son  of  Gruffydd,  whose 
ravages  swept  the  border  to  the 
very  gates  of  Chester,  while  his 
conquest  of  Glamorgan  seemed 
to  bind  the  whole  people  to- 
gether in  a  power  strong  enough 
to  meet  any  attack  from  the 
stranger.  Throughout  the  Barons' 
war  Llewelyn  remained  master 
of  Wales.  Even  at  its  close  the 
threat  of  an  attack  from  the 
now  united  kingdom  only 
forced  him  to  submission  on  a 
practical  acknowledgement  of 
his  sovereignty.  The  chieftain 
whom  the  English  kings  had  till 
then  scrupulously  designated  as 

"  Prince  of  Aberffraw,"  was  now  allowed  the  title  of  "  Prince  of 
Wales,"  and  his  right  to  receive  homage  from  the  other  nobles 
of  his  principality  was  allowed. 

Near,  however,  as  Llewelyn  seemed  to  the  final  realization 
of  his  aims,  he  was  still  a  vassal  of  the  English  crown,  and  the 
accession  of  a  new  sovereign  to  the  throne  was  at  once  followed 
by  the  demand  of  his  homage.  The  youth  of  Edward  the  First 
had  already  given  promise  of  the  high  qualities  which  distin- 
guished him  as  an  English  ruler.  The  passion  for  law,  the  instinct 
of  good  government,  which  were  to  make  his  reign  so  memorable 
in  our  history,  had  declared  themselves  from  the  first.  He  had 
sided  with  the  barons  at  the  outset  of  their  struggle  with  Henry  : 
he  had  striven  to  keep  his  father  true  to  the  Provisions  of  Oxford. 


1267 


GRUFFYDD,    SON    OF    LLEWELYN,    TRYING 

TO    ESCAPE   FROM   THE   TOWER,   1243. 

Drawn  by  Matthew  Paris. 

MS.  C.C.C.  Camb.  xvt. 


The 

Conquest 
of  Wales 


IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


It  was  only  when  the  Crown  seemed  falling  into  bondage  that 
Edward  passed  to  the  royal  side  ;  and  when  the  danger  he 
dreaded  was  over  he  returned  to  his  older  attitude.  In  the  first 
flush  of  victory,  while  the  doom  of  Simon  was  yet  unknown, 
Edward  stood  alone  in  desiring  his  captivity  against  the  cry 
of  the  Marcher  lords  for  his  death.  When  all  was  over  he 
wept  over  the  corpse  of  his  cousin,  Henry  de  Montfort,  and 
followed  the  Earl's  body  to  the  tomb.  It  was  from  Earl  Simon, 
as  the  Earl  owned  with  a  proud  bitterness  ere  his  death,  that 
Edward  had  learned  the  skill  in  warfare  which  distinguished 


SEC.  I 

THE 

CONQUEST 
OF  WALES 

1265 

TO 

1284 


BISHOP'S  PALACE,  s.   DAVID'S. 


him    among   the   princes   of   his  time.     But  he   had   learned  the 
far  nobler  lesson  of  a  self-government  which  lifted  him  high  above 
them  as  a  ruler  among  men.     Severing  himself  from   the  brutal 
triumph  of  the  royalist  party,  he  secured  fair  terms  to  the  con- 
quered,  and  after  crushing  the  last  traces  of  resistance,  he  won        1267 
the    adoption    by    the    Crown    of    the    constitutional     system    of 
government    for  which    the    barons    had    fought.     So  utterly  was 
trie  land  at  rest  that  he  felt  free  to  join   a  crusade  in  Palestine. 
His  father's  death  recalled  him  home  to  meet  at  once  the  difficulty    Death  of 
of    Wales.     During    two    years    Llewelyn    rejected    the    King's       1272 


32o  HISTORY     OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  i       repeated    summons  to  him  to  perform  his  homage,  till  Edward's 
THE        patience  was  exhausted,  and  the  royal  army  marched  into  North 

CONQUEST 

OF  WALES  Wales.  The  fabric  of  Welsh  greatness  fell  at  a  single  blow  ; 
the  chieftains  of  the  south  and  centre  who  had  so  lately  sworn 
fealty  to  Llewelyn  deserted  him  to  join  his  English  enemies ; 

1 27*7 

an  English  fleet  reduced  Anglesea,  and  the  Prince,  cooped  up 
in  his  fastnesses,  was  forced  to  throw  himself  on  the  royal  mercy. 
With  characteristic  moderation  his  conqueror  contented  himself 
with  adding  to  the  English  dominions  the  coast-district  as  far  as 
Conway,  and  providing  that  the  title  of  Prince  of  Wales  should 
cease  at  Llewelyn's  death.  A  heavy  fine  which  he  had  incurred 
was  remitted,  and  Eleanor  the  daughter  of  Simon  of  Montfort, 
who  had  been  arrested  on  her  way  to  join  him  as  his  wife,  was 
wedded  to  him  at  the  English  court.  For  four  years  all  was  quiet, 
but  the  persuasions  of  his  brother  David,  who  had  deserted  him  in 
the  previous  war,  and  whose  desertion  had  been  rewarded  with  an 
English  lordship,  roused  Llewelyn  to  a  fresh  revolt.  A  prophecy 
of  Merlin  had  announced  that  when  English  money  became  round 
the  Prince  of  Wales  should  be  crowned  at  London  ;  and  a  new 
coinage  of  copper  money,  coupled  with  the  prohibition  to  break 
the  silver  penny  into  halves  and  quarters,  as  had  been  usual, 
1282  was  supposed  to  have  fulfilled  the  prediction.  In  the  campaign 
which  followed  the  Prince  held  out  in  Snowdon  with  the  stub- 
bornness of  despair,  and  the  rout  of  an  English  detachment 
which  had  thrown  a  bridge  across  the  Menai  Straits  into  Angle- 
sea  prolonged  the  contest  into  the  winter.  Terrible  however 
as  were  the  sufferings  of  the  English  army,  Edward's  firmness 
remained  unbroken,  and  rejecting  all  proposals  of  retreat  he 
issued  orders  for  the  formation  of  a  new  army  at  Caermarthen 
to  complete  the  circle  of  investment  round  Llewelyn.  The  Prince 
sallied  from  his  mountain-hold  for  a  raid  upon  Radnorshire, 
and  fell  in  a  petty  skirmish  on  the  banks  of  the  Wye.  With 
him  died  the  independence  of  his  race.  After  six  months  of 
flight  his  brother  David  was  arrested  and  sentenced  in  full  Par- 
liament to  a  traitor's  death.  The  submission  of  the  lesser 
chieftains  was  followed  by  the  building  of  strong  castles  at 
Conway  and  Caernarvon,  and  the  settlement  of  English  barons 
on  the  confiscated  soil.  A  wiser  instinct  of  government  led 


IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


321 


CON  WAY     CASTLE. 


SEC.  I 

THE 

CONQUEST 
OF  WALES 

1265 

TO 
1284 


Edward    to   introduce   by   the    "  Statute  of   Wales "   English  law 
and    the    English    administration     of   justice    into    Wales.     But 


CAERNARVON     CASTLE. 


little   came   of    the   attempt  ;    and    it   was    not   till   the   time   of 
Henry  the    Eighth    that    the    country   was    actually  incorporated 


VOL.  I— 21 


322  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 


SEC.  ii  in   England.     What   Edward   had    really  done  was   to  break  the 

THE  Welsh    resistance.     His    policy  of   justice    (for  the    "  massacre  of 

ENGLISH 

PMEN'^  ^c  bards "  is  a   mere  fable)  accomplished  its  end,  and   in  spite 

1283  of  two    later  rebellions  \Vales  ceased  to  be  any  serious  danger 

TO 

1295  to  England  for  a  hundred  years. 


Section  II. — The  English  Parliament,  1283 — 1295 

\Authorities. — The  short  treatise  on  the  Constitution  of  Parliament  called 
"  Modus  tenendi  Parliamenta "  may  be  taken  as  a  fair  account  of  its  actual 
state  and  powers  in  the  fourteenth  century.  It  has  been  reprinted  by  Dr.  Stubbs, 
in  the  invaluable  collection  of  Documents  which  serves  as  the  base  of  the 
present  section.  Sir  Francis  Palgrave  has  illustrated  the  remedial  side  of  our 
parliamentary  institutions  with  much  vigour  and  picturcsqueness  in  his 
"  History  of  the  English  Commonwealth,'  but  his  conclusions  are  often  hasty 
and  prejudiced.  On  all  constitutional  points  from  the  reign  of  Edward  the  First 
we  can  now  rely  on  the  judgment  and  research  of  Mr.  Hallam  ("Middle 
Ages").] 

[The  second  volume  of  Dr.  Stubbs's  "Constitutional  History  "  which  deals 
with  this  period  was  published  after  this  History  was  written  and  the  list  of 
authorities  prepared. — ED.] 

The  New  The  conquest  of  Wales  marked  the  adoption  of  a  new  attitude 
and  policy  on  the  part  of  the  crown.  From  the  earliest  moment 
of  his  reign  Edward  the  First  definitely  abandoned  all  dreams  of 
recovering  the  foreign  dominions  which  his  grandfather  had  lost. 
He  concentrated  himself  on  the  consolidation  and  good  govern- 
ment of  England  itself.  We  can  only  fairly  judge  his  annexation 
of  Wales,  or  his  attempt  to  annex  Scotland,  if  we  regard  them  as 
parts  of  the  same  scheme  of  national  administration  to  which  we 
owe  his  final  establishment  of  our  judicature,  our  legislation,  our 
Parliament.  The  King's  English  policy,  like  his  English  name, 
was  the  sign  of  a  new  epoch.  The  long  period  of  national  forma- 
tion had  come  practically  to  an  end.  With  the  reign  of  Edward 
begins  modern  England,  the  constitutional  England  in  which  we 
live.  It  is  not  that  any  chasm  separates  our  history  before  it  from 
our  history  after  it,  as  the  chasm  of  the  Revolution  divides  the 
history  of  France,  for  we  have  traced  the  rudiments  of  our  consti- 
tution to  the  first  moment  of  the  English  settlement  in  Britain. 
But  it  is  with  these  as  with  our  language.  The  tongue  of  Alfred 


IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


323 


is  the  very  tongue  we  speak,  but  in  spite  of  its  identity  with 
modern  English  it  has  to  be  learned  like  the  tongue  of  a  stranger. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  English  of  Chaucer  is  almost  as  intelligible 
as  our  own.  In  the  first  the  historian  and  philologer  can  study  the 
origin  and  developement  of  our  national  speech,  in  the  last  a  school- 
boy can  enjoy  the  story  of  Troilus  and  Cressida,  or  listen  to  the 
gay  chat  of  the  Canterbury  Pilgrims.  In  precisely  the  same  way 


SEC.  II 

THE 
ENGLISH 
PARLIA- 
MENT 
1283 

TO 
1295 


GREAT    SEAL    OF    EDWARD    I. 

a  knowledge  of  our  earliest  laws  is  indispensable  for  the  right 
understanding  of  later  legislation,  its  origin  and  its  developement, 
while  the  principles  of  our  Parliamentary  system  must  necessarily 
be  studisd  in  the  Meetings  of  Wise  Men  before  the  Conquest  or 
the  Great  Council  of  barons  after  it.  But  the  Parliaments  which 
Edward  gathered  at  the  close  of  his  reign  are  not  merely  illustra- 
tive of  the  history  of  later  Parliaments,  they  are  absolutely  identical 
with  those  which  still  sit  at  St.  Stephen's  ;  and  a  statute  of 
Edward,  if  unrepealed,  can  be  pleaded  in  our  courts  as  formally  as 


324  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  ii      a  statute  of  Victoria.    In  a  word,  the  long  struggle  of  the  constitu- 
THE       tion  for  actual  existence  has  come  to  an  end.     The  contest;,  which 

ENGLISH 

PARLIA-     follow  are  not  contests  which  tell,  like  those  which  preceded  them, 

MENT 

1283       on  the  actual  fabric  of  our  political   institutions  ;  they  are  simply 

TO 

1295       stages  in  the  rough  discipline  by  which   England  has  learned,  and 
is  still  learning,  how  best  to  use  and  how  wisely  to  develope  the 
latent  powers  of  its  national  life,  how  to  adjust  the  balance  of  its 
social  and  political  forces,  and  to  adapt  its  constitutional   forms  to 
the  varying  conditions  of  the  time.     From  the  reign  of  Edward,  in 
fact,  we  are  face  to  face  with  modern    England.       King,   Lords, 
Commons,  the  Courts  of  Justice,   the  forms  of  public  administra- 
tion, our  local  divisions  and  provincial  jurisdictions,  the  relations  of 
Church  and  State,  in  great  measure  the  framework  of  society  itself, 
have  all  taken  the  shape  which  they  still  essentially  retain. 
Judicial          Much  of  this  great  change  is  doubtless  attributable  to  the  general 
temper  of  the  age,  whose  special  task  and  object  seemed  to  be  that 
of  reducing  to  distinct  form  the  great  principles  which  had  sprung 
into  a  new  and  vigorous  life  during  the  century  that  preceded  it.    As 
the  opening  of  the  thirteenth  century  had  been  an  age  of  founders, 
creators,  discoverers,  so  its  close  was  an  age  of  lawyers  ;  the  most 
illustrious  men  of  the  time  were  no  longer  such  as  Bacon,   or  Earl 
Simon,  or  Francis  of  Assisi,  but  men  such  as  St.  Lewis  of  France 
or  Alfonso  the  Wise,  organizers,   administrators,   framers  of  laws 
and  institutions.    It  was  to  this  class  that  Edward  himself  belonged. 
He   had    little   of  creative  genius   or   political    originality   in    his 
character,  but  he  possessed  in  a  high  degree  the  faculty  of  organiza- 
tion, and  his  passionate  love  of  law  broke  out  even  in  the  legal 
chicanery  to  which  he  sometimes  stooped.     In  the  judicial  reforms 
to  which  so  much  of  his  attention  was  directed,  he  showed  himself, 
if  not  an  "  English  Justinian,"  at  any  rate  a  clear-sighted  man  of 
business,  developing,  reforming,  bringing  into  a  lasting  shape  the 
institutions    of  his    predecessors.     One    of  his    first  cares  was  to 
complete  the  judicial  reforms  begun  by  Henry  II.     The  most  im- 
portant court  of  civil  jurisdiction,   the  Sheriff's  or  County  Court, 
remained  unchanged,  both  in  the  extent  of  its  jurisdiction,  and  th: 
7"£?  three   character  of  the  Sheriff  as  a  royal  officer.       But  the  superior  courts 
^"LOW"    mt°  wr>icn  the  King's  Court  had  since  the   Great  Charter  divided 
Courts      itself,  those  of  the  King's  Bench,  Exchequer,  and  Common  Pleas, 


IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


325 


now  received  a  distinct  staff  of  judges  for  each  court  Of  far 
greater  importance  than  this  change,  which  was  in  effect  but  the 
completion  of  a  process  of  severance  that  had  long  been  going  on, 
was  the  establishment  of  an  equitable  jurisdiction  side  by  side  with 
that  of  the  common  law.  In  his  reform  of  1 178  Henry  the  Second 
had  broken  up  the  older  King's  Court,  which  had  till  then  served 
as  the  final  Court  of  Appeal,  by  the  severance  of  the  purely  legal 
judges  who  had  been  gradually  added  to  it  from  the  general  body 
of  his  councillors.  The  judges  thus  severed  from  the  Council 
retained  the  name  and  the  ordinary  jurisdiction  of  "  the  King's 
Court,"  while  all  cases  in  which  they  failed  to  do  justice  were 
reserved  for  the  special  cognizance  of  the  royal  Council  itself.  To 
this  final  jurisdiction  of  the  King  in  Council  Edward  gave  a  wide 
developement.  His  assembly  of  the  ministers,  the  higher  permanent 
officials,  and  the  law  officers  -of  the  Crown,  for  the  first  time 
reserved  to  itself  in  its  judicial  capacity  the  correction  of  all 
breaches  of  the  law  which  the  lower  courts  had  failed  to  repress, 
whether  from  weakness,  partiality,  or  corruption,  and  especially 
of  those  lawless  outbreaks  of  the  more  powerful  baronage  which 

defied  the  common  authority  of 
the  judges.  Though  regarded 
with  jealousy  by  Parliament,  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Council  seems 
to  have  been  steadily  put  in  force 
through  the  two  centuries  which 
followed  ;  in  the  reign  of  Henry 
the  Seventh  it  took  legal  and 
statutory  form  in  the  shape  of  the 
Court  of  Star  Chamber,  and  its 
powers  are  still  exercised  in  our 
own  day  by  the  Judicial  Com- 
mittee of  the  Privy  Council.  But 
the  same  duty  of  the  Crown  to  do 
justice  where  its  courts  fell  short 
of  giving  due  redress  for  wrong 

expressed  itself  in  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Chancellor.  This  great 
officer  of  State,  who  had  perhaps  originally  acted  only  as  President 
of  the  Council  when  discharging  its  judicial  functions,  acquired  at 


CHANCELLOR  S    SEAL     BAG. 
Carved  on  Tomb  of  Walter  de  Merton, 

Rochester  Cathedral. 
Journal  of  Archczological  Association. 


SEC   II 

THE 

ENGLISH 
PARLIA- 
MENT 

1283 

TO 
1295 


The  King 
in  Counci< 


The  Court 

of 
Chancery 


326  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  ii      a  very  early  date    an   independent  judicial  position  of  the  same 
THE       nature.     It  is  by  remembering  the  orisrin  of  the  Court  of  Chancery 

ENGLISH  ' 

PMEN'^      that  we  understand  the  nature  of  the  powers  it  gradually  acquired. 

1283       All  grievances  of  the  subject,  especially  those  which  sprang  from 

1295  the  misconduct  of  government  officials  or  of  powerful  oppressors, 
fell  within  its  cognizance,  as  they  fell  within  that  of  the  Royal 
Council,  and  to  these  were  added  disputes  respecting  the  wardship 
of  infants,  dower,  rent-charges,  or  tithes.  Its  equitable  jurisdiction 
sprang  from  the  defective  nature  and  the  technical  and  unbending 
rules  of  the  common  law.  As  the  Council  had  given  redress  in 
cases  where  law  became  injustice,  so  the  Court  of  Chancery  inter- 
fered without  regard  to  the  rules  of  procedure  adopted  by  the 
common  law  courts,  on  the  petition  of  a  party  for  whose  grievance 
the  common  law  provided  no  adequate  remedy.  An  analogous 
extension  of  his  powers  enabled  the  Chancellor  to  afford  relief  in 
cases  of  fraud,  accident,  or  abuse  of  trust,  and  this  side  of  his 
jurisdiction  was  largely  extended  at  a  later  time  through  the  results 
of  legislation  on  the  tenure  of  land  by  ecclesiastical  bodies.  The 
separate  powers  of  the  Chancellor,  whatever  was  the  original  date 
at  which  they  were  first  exercised,  seem  to  have  been  thoroughly 
established  under  Edward  the  First. 
Edward's  In  legislation,  as  in  his  judicial  reforms,  Edward  renewed  and 

tion  consolidated  the  principles  which  had  been  already  brought  into 
practical  working  by  Henry  the  Second.  Significant  acts  an- 
nounced his  determination  to  carry  out  Henry's  policy  of  limiting 
the  independent  jurisdiction  of  the  Church.  He  was  resolute  to 
force  it  to  become  thoroughly  national  by  bearing  its  due  part  of 
the  common  national  burthens,  and  to  break  its  growing  depend- 
ence upon  Rome.  The  defiant  resistance  of  the  ecclesiastical  body 
was  answered  in  an  emphatic  way.  By  falling  into  the  "  dead 

1279  hand  "  or  "  mortmain  "  of  the  Church  land  ceased  to  render  its 
feudal  services  ;  and  the  Statute  "  of  Mortmain  "  now  forbade  the 
alienation  of  land  to  religious  bodies  in  such  wise  that  it  should 
cease  to  render  its  due  service  to  the  King.  The  restriction  was 
probably  no  beneficial  one  to  the  country  at  large,  for  Churchmen 
were  the  best  landlords,  and  it  was  soon  evaded  by  the  ingenuity  of 
the  clerical  lawyers  ;  but  it  marked  the  growing  jealousy  of  any 
attempt  to  set  aside  what  was  national  from  serving  the  general 


IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


32? 


SEC.  II 


SEAL  OF  STATUTE  MERCHANT,  GLOUCESTER. 

1307—1327. 
Collection  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries. 


THE 
ENGLISH 
PARLIA- 
MENT 
1283 

TO 
1295 

1283 


1285 


need  and  profit  of  the  nation.  Its  immediate  effect  was  to  stir  the 
clergy  to  a  bitter  resentment.  But  Edward  remained  firm,  and 
when  the  bishops  proposed  to  restrict  the  royal  courts  from  dealing 
with  cases  of  patronage  or  causes  which  touched  the  chattels  of 
Churchmen  he  met  their  proposals  by  an  instant  prohibition.  His 
care  for  the  trading  classes  was  seen  in  the  Statute  of  Merchants, 

which  provided  for  the  regis- 
tration of  the  debts  of  traders, 
and  for  their  recovery  by  dis- 
traint of  the  debtor's  goods  and 
the  imprisonment  of  his  person. 
The  Statute  of  Winchester,  the 
greatest  of  Edward's  measures 
for  the  enforcement  of  public 
order,  revived  and  reorganized 
the  old  institutions  of  national 
police  and  national  defence. 
It  regulated  the  action  of  the 
hundred,  the  duty  of  watch  and 
ward,  and  the  gathering  of  the 
fyrd  or  militia  of  the  realm  as 

Henry  the  Second  had  moulded  it  into  form  in  his  Assize  of  Arms. 
Every  man  was  bound  to  hold  himself  in  readiness,  duly  armed, 
for  the  King's  service  in  case  of  invasion  or  revolt,  or  to  pursue 
felons  when  hue  and  cry  was  raised  after  them.  Every  district 
was  made  responsible  for  crimes  committed  within  its  bounds  ;  the 
gates  of  each  town  were  required  to  be  closed  at  nightfall,  and  all 
strangers  to  give  an  account  of  themselves  to  its  magistrates.  As 
a  security  for  travellers  against  sudden  attacks  from  robbers,  all 
brushwood  was  to  be  destroyed  for  a  space  of  two  hundred  feet  on 
either  side  the  public  highway,  a  provision  which  illustrates  at  once 
the  social  and  physical  condition  of  the  country  at  the  time.  To 
enforce  the  observance  of  this  act  knights  were  appointed  in  every  justices  of 
shire  under  the  name  of  Conservators  of  the  Peace,  a  name  which, 
as  the  convenience  of  these  local  magistrates  was  more  sensibly 
felt  and  their  powers  more  largely  extended,  was  changed  for  that 
which  they  still  retain  of  "  Justices  of  the  Peace."  The  great 
measure  which  is  commonly  known  as  the  Statute  "  Quia 


the  Peace 
1285 


328 


HISTORY    O*    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  II 

THE 

ENGLISH 
PARLIA- 
MENT 
1283 

TO 
I29S 

I2QO 


Emptorcs  "  is  one  of  those  legislative  efforts  which  mark  the  pro- 
gress of  a  wide  social  revolution  in  the  country  at  large.  The 
number  of  the  greater  barons  was  dimin- 
ishing every  day,  while  the  number  of 
the  country  gentry  and  of  the  more  sub- 
stantial yeomanry  was  increasing  with  the 
increase  of  the  national  wealth.  This 
increase  showed  itself  in  the  growing 
desire  to  become  proprietors  of  land. 
Tenants  of  the  greater  barons  received 
under-tenants  on  condition  of  their  ren- 
dering them  similar  services  to  those 
which  they  themselves  rendered  to  their 
lords  ;  and  the  baronage,  while  duly  re- 
ceiving the  services  in  compensation  for 
which  they  had  originally  granted  their 
lands  in  fee,  saw  with  jealousy  the  feudal 

profits  of  these  new  under-tenants,  the  profits  of  wardship  or  of 
reliefs  and  the  like,  in  a  word  the  whole  increase  in  the  value  of 


SEAL  OK  WILLIAM  MORAUNT, 
REPRESENTING  A  KENTISH 
MANOR-HOUSE,  A.D.    1272. 
Archeeological  Journal. 


MANOR-HOUSE,     ACTON     BURNELL. 

Built  1283 — 1292. 
Archa-o'.ogical  Journal. 


the  estate  consequent  on  its  subdivision  and  higher  cultivation, 
passing  into  other  hands  than  their  own.  The  purpose  of  the 
statute  was  to  check  this  process  by  providing  that  in  any  case  of 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS  329 


alienation  the  sub-tenant  should  henceforth  hold,  not  of  the  tenant,      SEC.  n 
but  directly  of  the  superior  lord.     But  its  result  was  to  promote        THE 

r   ,  .  ENGLISH 

instead  of  hindering  the  transfer  and  subdivision  of  land.     The     PARLIA- 
tenant  who  was  before  compelled  to  retain  in  any  case  so  much       1283 
of  the  estate  as  enabled  him  to  discharge  his  feudal  services  to  the       1295 
over-lord    of  whom    he   held    it,   was   now  enabled  by  a  process 
analogous  to  the  modern  sale  of   "  tenant-right,"  to  transfer  both 
land  and  services  to  new  holders.     However  small  the  estates  thus 
created  might  be,  the  bulk  were  held  directly  of  the  Crown  ;  and 
this  class  of  lesser  gentry  and  freeholders  grew  steadily  from  this 
time  in  numbers  and  importance. 

It  is  to  the  same  social  revolution  as  well  as  to  the  large  states-       The 
manship  of  Edward  the  First  that  we  owe  our  Parliament.    Neither    ~Great., 

Council 

the  Meeting  of  the  Wise  Men  before  the  Conquest,  nor  the  Great  of  the 
Council  of  the  Barons  after  it,  had  been  in  any  way  representative 
bodies.  •  The  first  theoretically  included  all  free  holders  of  land, 
but  it  shrank  at  an  early  time  into  a  gathering  of  earls,  higher 
nobles,  and  bishops,  with  the  officers  and  thegns  of  the  royal 
household.  Little  change  was  made  in  the  composition  of  this 
assembly  by  the  Conquest,  for  the  Great  Council  of  the  Norman 
kings  was  held  to  include  all  tenants  who  held  directly  of  the 
Crown,  the  bishops  and  greater  abbots  (whose  character  as  in- 
dependent spiritual  members  tended  more  and  more  to  merge  in 
their  position  as  barons),  and  the  great  officers  of  the  Court.  But 
though  its  composition  remained  the  same,  the  character  of  the 
assembly  was  essentially  altered.  From  a  free  gathering  of  "  Wise 
Men  "  it  sank  to  a  Royal  Court  of  feudal  vassals.  Its  functions 
seem  to  have  become  almost  nominal,  and  its  powers  to  have  been 
restricted  to  the  sanctioning,  without  debate  or  possibility  of  refusal, 
all  grants  demanded  from  it  by  the  Crown.  Its  "  counsel  and 
consent,"  however,  remained  necessary  for  the  legal  validity  of 
every  great  fiscal  or  political  measure,  and  its  very  existence  was 
an  effectual  protest  against  the  imperial  theories  advanced  by  the 
lawyers  of  Henry  the  Second,  theories  which  declared  all  legislative 
power  to  reside  wholly  in  the  sovereign.  It  was  in  fact  under 
Henry  that  these  assemblies  became  more  regular,  and  their 
functions  more  important.  The  reforms  which  marked  his  reign 
were  issued  in  the  Great  Council,  and  even  financial  matters  were 


33o  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 


SEC.  ii      suffered  to  be  debated  there.     But  it  was  not  till  the  grant  of  the 
THE        Great  Charter  that  its  powers  over  taxation   were   formally  recog- 

ENGLISH 

PARLIA-     nized,  and  the  principle  established  that  no  burthen  beyond  the 

MENT 

1283       customary  feudal  aids  might  be  imposed   "  save  by  the  Common 

TO 

1295       Council  of  the  Realm."     The  same  great  document   first  expressly 
regulated  its  form.     In  theory,  as  we  have  seen,  the  assembly  con- 
sisted of  all  who  held  land  directly  of  the   Crown.     But  the  same 
causes   which   restricted    attendance    at   the    Witenagemot  to  the 
greater  nobles  told  on  the  actual   composition  of  the  Council  of 
Barons.     While  the  attendance  of  the  ordinary  tenants  in  chief, 
the    Knights    or    "  Lesser    Barons,"   was    burthensome    from    its 
expense   to   themselves,  their   numbers  and  their  dependence  on 
the  higher  nobles  made  their  assembly  dangerous  to  the  Crown. 
As  early,  therefore,  as  the  time  of  Henry  the  First  we  find  a  dis- 
tinction recognized  between  the  "  Greater  Barons,"  of  whom  the 
Council  was  usually   composed,   and    the    "  Lesser   Barons "    who 
formed  the  bulk  of  the  tenants  of  the  Crown.     But  though  the 
attendance  of  the  latter  had  become  rare,  their  right  of  attendance 
remained    intact.      While   enacting   that  the  prelates  and  greater 
barons  should  be  summoned  by  special  writs  to  each  gathering  of 
the  Council,  a  remarkable  provision  of  the  Great  Charter  orders  a 
general  summons  to  be  issued  through  the   Sheriff  to  all  direct 
tenants  of  the   Crown.     The  provision  was  probably  intended  to 
rouse   the  lesser  baronage  to   the   exercise    of  rights  which   had 
practically  passed  into  desuetude,  but  as  the  clause  is  omitted   in 
later  issues  of  the  Charter  we  may  doubt  whether  the  principle  it 
embodied    ever   received    more   than    a   very  limited    application. 
There  are  traces  of  the  attendance  of  a  few  of  the  lesser  knight- 
hood, gentry   perhaps  of  the  neighbourhood   where  the  assembly 
was  held,  in  some  of  its  meetings  under  Henry  the  Third,  but  till 
a  late  period    in    the    reign    of  his    successor   the    Great    Council 
practically  remained  a  gathering  of  the  greater  barons,  the  prelates, 
and    the   officers   of  the   Crown.      The   change    which  the    Great 
Charter  had  failed  to  accomplish  was  now,  however,  brought  about 
by    the    social    circumstances    of    the    time.       One    of    the    most 
remarkable  of  these  was  the  steady   decrease   in    the  number   of 
the  greater  nobles.     The  bulk  of  the  earldoms  had   already  lapsed 
to   the    Crown    through   the  extinction  of  the    families    of   their 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


possessors  ;  of  the  greater  baronies,  many  had  practically  ceased  to      SEC.  n 
exist  by  their  division  among  co-heiresses,  many  through  the  con-        T^ 
stant  struggle  of  the  poorer  barons  to  rid  themselves  of  their  rank     PAR"A- 

MENT 

by  a  disclaimer,  so  as  to  escape  the  burthen  of  higher  taxation  and        1283 
attendance  in  Parliament  which  it  involved.      How  far  this  diminu-       1295 


tion  had  gone  we  may  see  from  the  fact  that  hardly  more  than  a 
hundred  barons  sat  in  the  earlier  Councils  of  Edward's  reign.  But 
while  the  number  of  those  who  actually  possessed  the  privilege  of 
assisting  in  Parliament  was  rapidly  diminishing,  the  numbers  and 
wealth  of  the  "  lesser  baronage,"  whose  right  of  attendance  had 
become  a  mere  constitutional  tradition,  was  as  rapidly  increasing. 
The  long  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  realm,  the  extension  of  its 
commerce,  and  the  increased  export  of  wool,  were  swelling  the 
ranks  and  incomes  of  the  country  gentry  as  well  as  of  the  free- 
holders and  substantial  yeomanry.  We  have  already  noticed  the 
growing  passion  for  the  possession  of  land  which  makes  this  reign 
so  critical  a  moment  in  the  history  of  the  English  freeholder  ;  but 
the  same  tendency  had  to  some  extent  existed  in  the  preceding 
century,  and  it  was  a  consciousness  of  the  growing  importance  of 
this  class  of  rural  proprietors  which  induced  the  barons  at  the  time 
of  the  Charter  to  make  their  fruitless  attempt  to  induce  them  to 
take  part  in  the  deliberations  of  the  Great  Council.  But  while  the 
barons  desired  their  presence  as  an  aid  against  the  Crown,  the 
Crown  itself  desired  it  as  a  means  of  rendering  taxation  more 
efficient.  So  long  as  the  Great  Council  remained  a  mere  assembly 
of  magnates  it  was  necessary  for  the  King's  ministers  to  treat 
separately  with  the  other  orders  of  the  state  as  to  the  amount  and 
assessment  of  their  contributions.  The  grant  made  in  the  Great 
Council  was  binding  only  on  the  barons  and  prelates  who  made  it  ; 
but  before  the  aids  of  the  boroughs,  the  Church,  or  the  shires 
could  reach  the  royal  treasury,  a  separate  negotiation  had  to  be 
conducted  by  the  officers  of  the  Exchequer  with  the  reeves  of  each 
town,  the  sheriff  and  shire-court  of  each  county,  and  the  arch- 
deacons of  each  diocese.  Bargains  of  this  sort  would  be  the  more 
tedious  and  disappointing  as  the  necessities  of  the  Crown  increased 
in  the  later  years  of  Edward,  and  it  became  a  matter  of  fiscal 
expediency  to  obtain  the  sanction  of  any  proposed  taxation 
through  the  presence  of  these  classes  in  the  Great  Council  itself. 


332 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


ZEC.  II 

THE 
ENGLISH 
PARLIA- 
MENT 
1283 

TO 
1295 

v<nights 
of  the 
Shire 


The  effort,  however,  to  revive  the  old  personal  attendance  of  the 
lesser  baronage,  which  had  broken  down  half  a  century  before, 
could  hardly  be  renewed  at  a  time  when  the  increase  of  their 
numbers  made  it  more  impracticable  than  ever  ;  but  a  means  of 
escape  from  this  difficulty  was  fortunately 
suggested  by  the  very  nature  of  the  court 
through  which  alone  a  summons  could  be 
addressed  to  the  landed  knighthood. 
Amidst  the  many  judicial  reforms  of 
Henry  or  Edward  the  Shire  Court  re- 
mained unchanged.  The  haunted  mound 
or  the  immemorial  oak  round  which  the 
assembly  gathered  (for  the  court  was  often 
held  in  the  open  air)  were  the  relics  of 
a  time  before  the  free  kingdom  had  sunk 
into  a  shire,  and  its  folk-moot  into  a 
County  Court.  But  save  that  the  King's 
reeve  had  taken  the  place  of  the  King, 
and  that  the  Norman  legislation  had  dis- 
placed the  Bishop  and  set  four  Coroners 
by  the  Sheriffs  side,  the  gathering  of 
the  freeholders  remained  much  as  of  old. 
The  local  knighthood,  the  yeomanry,  the 
husbandmen  of  the  county,  were  all  re- 
presented in  the  crowd  that  gathered 
round  the  Sheriff,  as,  guarded  by  his 
liveried  followers,  he  published  the  King's 
writs,  announced  his  demand  of  aids, 
received  the  presentment  of  criminals  and 
the  inquest  of  the  local  jurors,  assessed 
the  taxation  of  each  district,  or  listened 
solemnly  to  appeals  for  justice,  civil  and 
criminal,  from  all  who  held  themselves 

oppressed  in  the  lesser  courts  of  the  hundred  or  the  soke.  It 
was  in  the  County  Court  alone  that  the  Sheriff  could  legally 
summon  the  lesser  baronage  to  attend  the  Great  Council,  and 
it  was  in  the  actual  constitution  of  this  assembly  that  the  Crown 
found  a  solution  of  the  difficulty  which  we  have  already  stated. 


BRASS,  GORI.ESTON    CHURCH, 

SUFFOLK. 

End  of  Thirteenth  Century. 
Suckling,  "  History  of  Suffolk." 


iv  THE    THREE    EDWARDS  333 


MAN    WITH    BOW    AND    ARROWS.       WOMAN     WITH    DISTAFF. 

Early  Fourteenth  Century. 

MS.  Roy.  2  B.  vii. 


lingers  in  the  garb  of  our  carters  and  ploughmen,  were  broken  up 
into  little  knots  of  five,  a  reeve  and  four  assistants,  who  formed  the 
representatives  of  the  rural  townships.  If,  in  fact,  we  regard  the 
Shire  Courts  as  lineally  the  descendants  of  our  earliest  English 
folk-moots,  we  may  justly  claim  the  principle  of  parliamentary 
representation  as  among  the  oldest  of  our  institutions.  But  it  was 
only  slowly  and  tentatively  that  this,  principle  was  applied  to  the 
reconstitution  of  the  Great  Council.  As  early  as  the  close  of  John's 
reign  there  are  indications  of  the  approaching  change  in  the 
summons  of  "  four  discreet  knights  "  from  every  county.  Fresh 
need  of  local  support  was  felt  by  both  parties  in  the  conflict  of  the 


For  the  principle  of  representation  by  which   it  was  finally   solved      SEC.  n 
was  coeval   with  the   Shire   Court  itself.     In  all   cases  of  civil   or        THE 

ENGLISH 

criminal   justice    the   twelve    sworn    assessors   of    the    Sheriff,    as     P**"T~ 
members  of  a  class,  though  not  formally  deputed  for  that  purpose,        I283 
practically  represented  the  judicial  opinion  of  the  county  at  large.        1295 
From  every  hundred  came  groups  of  twelve  sworn  deputies,  the 
"jurors,"  through  whom  the  presentments  of  the  district  were  made 
to  the  royal  officer,  and  with  whom  the  assessment  of  its  share  in 
the    general    taxation    was    arranged.     The    husbandmen    on    the 
outskirts  of  the  crowd,  clad  in  the  brown  smock  frock  which  still 


334 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  II 

THE 

ENGLISH 
PARLIA- 
MENT 

1283 

TO 
1295 


succeeding  reign,  and  Henry  and  his  barons  alike  summoned 
knights  from  each  shire  "  to  meet  on  the  common  business  of  the 
realm."  It  was  no  doubt  with  the  same  purpose  that  the  writs  of 

Earl  Simon  ordered  the  choice  of 
knights  in  each  shire  for  his  famous 
parliament  of  1265.  Something 
like  a  continuous  attendance  may 
be  dated  from  the  accession  of 
Edward,  but  it  was  long  before 
the  knights  were  regarded  as  more 
than  local  deputies  for  the  assess- 
ment of  taxation,  or  admitted  to  a 
share  in  the  general  business  of 
the  Great  Council.  The  statute 
"  Quia  Emptores,"  for  instance,  was 
passed  in  it  before  the  knights 
who  had  been  summoned  could 
attend.  Their  participation  in  the 
deliberative  power  of*  Parliament, 

as  well  as  their  regular  and  continuous  attendance,  dates  only 
from  the  Parliament  of  1295.  But  a  far  greater  constitutional 
change  in  their  position  had  already  taken  place  through  the 


BOB-APPLE. 

Early  Fourteenth  Century. 
MS.  Roy.  2  B.  vii. 


CLUB-BALL. 

Early  Fourteenth  Century. 

MS.  Roy.  10  E.  iv. 


extension  of  electoral  rights  to  the  freeholders  'at  large.  The 
one  class  entitled  to  a  seat  in  the  Great  Council  was,  as  we 
have  seen,  that  of  the  lesser  baronage  ;  and  of  the  lesser  baronage 


IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


335 


SEC.  II 


THE 

ENGLISH 

PARLIA- 

MENT 

1283 

TO 
1295 


a!one  the  knights  were  in  theory  the  representatives.  But  the 
necessity  of  holding  their  election  in  the  County  Court  rendered 
any  restriction  of  the  electoral  body  physically  impossible.  The 
court  was  composed  of  the  whole  body  of  freeholders,  and  no 
sheriff  could  distinguish  the  "  aye,  aye "  of  the  yeoman  from 
the  "  aye,  aye  "  of  the  lesser  baron.  From  the  first  moment  there- 
fore of  their  attendance  we  find  the  knights  regarded  not  as  mere 
representatives  of  the  baronage,  but  as  knights  of  the  shire,  and 
by  this  silent  revolution  the  whole  body  of  the  rural  freeholders 
were  admitted  to  a  share  in  the  government  of  the  realm. 

The  financial  difficulties  of  the  Crown  led  to  a  far  more  radical 
revolution  in  the  admission  into  the  Great  Council  of  representa- 
tives  from  the  boroughs.  The  presence  of  knights  from  each  shire  Boroughs 


Repre- 
sentation 


TOLL-HOUSE,     GREAT    YARMOUTH. 

Thirteenth  Century. 
Journal  of  A  rch-xolog ical  Association. 

was,  as  we  have  seen,  the  recognition  of  an  older  right,  but  no 
right  of  attendance  or  share  in  the  national  "  counsel  and  consent " 
could  be  pleaded  for  the  burgesses  of  the  towns.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  rapid  developement  of  their  wealth  made  them  every  day 
more  important  as  elements  in  the  national  taxation.  The  towns 
had  long  since  freed  themselves  from  all  payment  of  the  dues  or 
fines  exacted  by  the  King,  as  the  original  lord  of  the  soil  on  which 


336 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE         CHAP,  iv 


SEC.  II 

THE 

ENGLISH 
PARLIA- 
MENT 

1283 

TO 
1295 


they  had  in  most  cases  grown  up,  by  what  was  called  the  purchase 
of  the  "  farm  of  the  borough  "  ;  in  other  words,  by  the  commutation 
of  these  uncertain  dues  for  a  fixed  sum  paid  annually  to  the 
Crown,  and  apportioned  by  their  own  magistrates  among  the 
general  body  of  the  burghers.  All  that  the  King  legally  retained 
was  the  right  enjoyed  by  every  great  proprietor  of  levying  a 
corresponding  taxation  on  his  tenants  in  demesne  under  the  name 
of  "  a  free  aid,"  whenever  a  grant  was  made  for  the  national 
necessities  by  the  barons  of  the  Great  Council.  But  the  tempta- 
tion of  appropriating  the  growing  wealth  of  the  mercantile  class 
proved  stronger  than  legal  restrictions,  and  we  find  both  Henry  the 


TOWN    WALL    AND    TOWER,    LYNN. 

Thirteenth  Century. 
Taylor,  "  History  of  King's  Lynn." 

Third  and  his  son  assuming  a  right  of  imposing  taxes  at  pleasure 
and  without  any  authority  from  the  Council  even  over  London 
itself.  The  burgesses  could  refuse  indeed  the  invitation  to  con- 
tribute to  the  "  free  aid  "  demanded  by  the  royal  officers  but  the 
suspension  of  their  markets  or  trading  privileges  brought  them  in 
the  end  to  submission.  Each  of  these  "  free  aids,"  however,  had  to 
be  extorted  after  a  long  wrangle  between  the  borough  and  the 
officers  of  the  Exchequer  ;  and  if  the  towns  were  driven  to  comply 
with  what  they  considered  an  extortion,  they  could  generally  force 
the  Crown  by  evasions  and  delays  to  a  compromise  and  abatement 
of  its  original  demands.  The  same  financial  reasons,  therefore, 


SEAL     OF     ROCHESTER,    C.     1300 
(Obverse.) 


SEAL     OF     ROCHESTER,    C.     1300. 

(Reverse.) 
Collection    of  Society    of  Antiquaries. 


I — 22 


338 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE        CHAP,  iv 


SEC.  II 

THE 

ENGLISH 
PARLIA- 
MENT 
1283 

TO 
1295 


existed  for  desiring  the  presence  of  their  representatives  in  the 
Great  Council  as  existed  in  the  case  of  the  shires  ;  but  it  was  the 
genius  of  Earl  Simon  which  first  broke  through  the  older  con- 
stitutional tradition,  and  dared  to  summon  two  burgesses  from 
each  town  to  the  Parliament  of  1265.  Time  had,  indeed,  to  pass 
before  the  large  and  statesmanlike  conception  of  the  great  patriot 
could  meet  with  full  acceptance.  Through  the  earlier  part  of 


OLD    BRISTOL    BRIDGE. 

Thirteenth   Century. 
Seyer,  "Memorials  of  Bristol." 


Edward's  reign  we  find  a  few  instances  of  the  presence  of  repre- 
sentatives from  the  towns,  but  their  scanty  numbers  and  the 
irregularity  of  their  attendance  show  that  they  were  summoned 
rather  to  afford  financial  information  to  the  Great  Council  than  as 
representatives  in  it  of  an  Estate  of  the  Realm.  Eut  every  year 
pleaded  stronger  and  stronger  for  their  inclusion,  and  in  the 
Parliament  of  1295  that  of  1265  found  itself  at  last  reproduced. 
"It  was  from  me  that  he  learnt  it,"  Earl  Simon  had  cried,  as  he 
recognized  the  military  skill  of  Edward's  onset  at  Evesham  ;  "  It 


SEAL  OF  DOVER,  A.D.  1305. 
(Obverse.) 


SEAL  OF  DOVER,  A.D.  1305. 

(Reverse.) 
Collection    of  Society   of  Antiquaries. 


340  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE             CHAP. 

SEC.  ii  was  from  me  that  he  learnt  it,"  his  spirit  might  have  exclaimed, 

THE  as  he  saw  the  King  gathering  at  last  two  burgesses  "  from  every 

PMEN'T  clty>  borough,  and  leading  town  "  within  his  realm  to  sit  side  by 

I283  side  with  the  knights,  nobles,  and  barons  of  the  Great  Council. 

TO 

1295  To  the  Crown  the  change  was  from  the  first  an  advantageous  one. 
The  grants  of  subsidies   by  the   burgesses  in    Parliament  proved 


SILVER    OAR    OF    ADMIRALTY    OF    CINQUE    PORTS. 

Temp.   Edward  I. 
Arckceological  Journal. 

more  profitable  than  the  previous  extortions  of  the  Exchequer. 
The  proportion  of  their  grant  generally  exceeded  that  of  the  other 
estates  by  a  tenth.  Their  representatives  too  proved  far  more 
compliant  with  the  royal  will  than  the  barons  or  knights  of  the 
shire  ;  only  on  one  occasion  during  Edward's  reign  did  the  burgesses 
waver  from  their  general  support  of  the  Crown.  It  was  easy 
indeed  to  control  them,  for  the  selection  of  boroughs  to  be  repre- 
sented remained  wholly  in  the  King's  hands,  and  their  numbers 
could  be  increased  or  diminished  at  the  King's  pleasure.  The 
determination  was  left  to  the  sheriff,  and  at  a  hint  from  the  royal 


TRUMPET    OF    CORPORATION     OF    DOVER,    C.     1300. 
fournal  of  Archaeological  Association, 

Council  a  sheriff  of  Wilts  would  cut  down  the  number  of  represented 
boroughs  in  his  shire  from  eleven  to  three,  or  a  sheriff  of  Bucks 
declare  he  could  find  but  a  single  borough,  that  of  Wycombe,  within 
the  bounds  of  the  county.  Nor  was  this  exercise  of  the  preroga- 
tive hampered  by  any  anxiety  on  the  part  of  the  towns  to  claim 
representative  privileges.  It  was  difficult  to  suspect  that  a  power 


IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


before  which  the  Crown  would  have  to  bow  lay  in  the  ranks  of 
soberly  clad  traders,  summoned  only  to  assess  the  contributions  of 
their  boroughs,  and  whose  attendance  was  as  difficult  to  secure  as  it 
seemed  burthensome  to  themselves  and  the  towns  who  sent  them. 
The  mass  of  citizens  took  little  or  no  part  in  their  choice,  for  they 
were  elected  in  the  county  court  by  a  few  of  the  principal  burghers 
deputed  for  the  purpose  ;  but  the  cost  of  their  maintenance,  the 
two  shillings  a  day  paid  to  the  burgess  by  his  town,  as  four  were 
paid  to  the  knight  by  his  county,  was  a  burthen  from  which  the 
boroughs  made  desperate  efforts  to  escape.  Some  persisted  in 


FAVERSHAM     MOOT    HORN. 
Early  Fourteenth  Century. 


making  no  return  to  the  sheriff.  Some  bought  charters  of  exemp- 
tion from  the  troublesome  privilege.  Of  the  165  who  were 
summoned  by  Edward  the  First  more  than  a  third  ceased  to 
send  representatives  after  a  single  compliance  with  the  royal 
summons.  During  the  whole  time  from  the  reign  of  Edward  the 
Third  to  the  reign  of  Henry  the  Sixth  the  sheriff  of  Lancashire 
declined  to  return  the  names  of  any  boroughs  at  all  within  that 
county,  "  on  account  of  their  poverty."  Nor  were  the  representa- 
tives themselves  more  anxious  to  appear  than  their  boroughs  to 
send  them.  The  busy  country  squire  and  the  thrifty  trader  were 
equally  reluctant  to  undergo  the  trouble  and  expense  of  a  journey 


SEC.  II 

THE 
ENGLISH 
PARLIA- 
MENT 
1283 

TO 
"95 


342  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 


SEC.  ii      to  Westminster.     Legal  measures  were  often  necessary  to  ensure 
THE       their   presence.     Writs    still  exist   in  abundance  such  as  that  by 

ENGLISH 

PARLIA-     which  Walter    le  Rous   is  "  held   to  bail  in  eight  oxen  and  four 

MENT 

1283       cart-horses    to    come    before    the    King  on  the  day  specified "  for 

TO 

1295  attendance  in  Parliament.  But  in  spite  of  obstacles  such  as  these 
the  presence  of  representatives  from  the  boroughs  may  be  regarded 
as  continuous  from  the  Parliament  of  1295.  As  the  representation 
of  the  lesser  barons  had  widened  through  a  silent  change  into  that 
of  the  shire,  so  that  of  the  boroughs — restricted  in  theory  to  those 
in  royal  demesne — seems  practically  from  Edward's  time  to  have 
been  extended  to  all  who  were  in  a  condition  to  pay  the  cost  of 
their  representatives'  support.  By  a  change  as  silent  within  the 
Parliament  itself  the  burgess,  originally  summoned  to  take  part 
only  in  matters  of  taxation,  was  at  last  admitted  to  a  full  share  in 
the  deliberations  and  authority  of  the  other  orders  of  the  State. 
The  The  admission  of  the  burgesses  and  knights  of  the  shire  to  the 

Parlia-  assembly  of  1 295  completed  the  fabric  of  our  representative  con- 
ments  stitution.  The  Great  Council  of  the  Barons  had  become  the 
Parliament  of  the  Realm,  a  parliament  in  which  every  order  of  the 
state  found  itself  represented,  and  took  part  in  the  grant  of  supplies, 
the  work  of  legislation,  and  in  the  end  the  control  of  government. 
But  though  in  all  essential  points  the  character  of  Parliament  has 
remained  the  same  from  that  time  to  this,  there  were  some 
remarkable  particulars  in  which  this  assembly  of  1295  differed 
widely  from  the  present  Parliament  at  St.  Stephen's.  Some  of 
these  differences,  such  as  those  which  sprang  from  the  increased 
powers  and  changed  relations  of  the  different  orders  among  them- 
selves, we  shall  have  occasion  to  consider  at  a  later  time.  But  a 
difference  of  a  far  more  startling  kind  than  these  lay  in  the 
Reprcsen-  presence  of  the  clergy.  If  there  is  any  part  in  the  Parliamentary 
of  l°he  scheme  of  Edward  the  First  which  can  be  regarded  as  especially  his 
Clergy  own,  it  is  his  project  for  the  representation  of  the  ecclesiastical 
order.  The  King  had  twice  at  least  summoned  its  "  proctors " 
to  Great  Councils  before  1295,  but  it  was  then  only  that  the  complete 
representation  of  the  Church  was  definitely  organized  by  the  inser- 
tion of  a  clauss  in  the  writ  which  summoned  a  bishop  to  Parliament 
requiring  the  personal  attendance  of  all  archdeacons,  deans,  or  priors 
of  cathedral  churches,  of  a  proctor  for  each  cathedral  chapter,  and 


iv  THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


343 


two  for  the  clergy  within  his  diocese.     The  clause  is  repeated  in  the      SEC.  n 
writs  of  the  present  day,  but  its  practical  effect  was  foiled  almost        THE 

ENCLISn 

from  the  first  by  the  resolute  opposition  of  those  to  whom  it  was     PARLIA- 
MENT 

addressed.      What   the  towns  failed  in  doing  the  clergy   actually       1283 

TO 
1295 


SH 


S.  ETHELBERT S  GATE,  NORWICH. 


did.  Even  when  forced  to  comply  with  the  royal  summons,  as 
they  seem  to  have  been  forced  during  Edward's  reign,  they  sat 
jealously  by  themselves,  and  their  refusal  to  vote  supplies  in  any 
but  their  own  provincial  assemblies,  or  convocations,  of  Canterbury 


344 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  II 

THE 

ENGLISH 
^ARLIA- 

MENT 

1283 

TO 

1295 


Restric- 
tion of 
Parlia- 
ment to 
Westmin- 
ster 


Parlia- 
ment the 
Court  of 
Appeal 


and  York  left  the  Crown  without  a  motive  for  insisting  on  their 
continued  attendance.  Their  presence  indeed,  though  still  occa- 
sionally granted  on  some  solemn  occasions,  became  so  pure  a 
formality  that  by  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  it  had  sunk 
wholly  into  desuetude.  In  their  anxiety  to  preserve  their  existence 
as  an  isolated  and  privileged  order  the  clergy  flung  away  a  power 
which,  had  they  retained  it,  would  have  ruinously  hampered  the 
healthy  developement  of  the  state.  To  take  a  single  instance,  it  is 
difficult  to  see  how  the  great  changes  of  the  Reformation  could 
have  been  brought  about  had  a  good  half  of  the  House  of 
Commons  consisted  purely  of  churchmen,  whose  numbers  would 
have  been  backed  by  the  weight  of  property  as  possessors  of  a 
third  of  the  landed  estates  of  the  realm.  A  hardly  less  important 
difference  may  be  found  in  the  gradual  restriction  of  the  meetings 
of  Parliament  to  Westminster.  The  names  of  the  early  statutes 
remind  us  of  its  convocation  at  the  most  various  quarters,  at 
Winchester,  Acton  Burnell,  or  Northampton.  It  was  at  a  later 
time  that  Parliament  became  settled  in  the  straggling  village  which 
had  grown  up  in  the  marshy  swamp  of  the  Isle  of  Thorns,  beside 
the  palace  whose  embattled  pile  towered  over  the  Thames  and  the 
great  minster  which  was  still  rising  in  Edward's  day  on  the  site  of 
the  older  church  of  the  Confessor.  It  is  possible  that,  while  con- 
tributing greatly  to  its  constitutional  importance,  this  settlement  of 
the  Parliament  may  have  helped  to  throw  into  the  background  its 
character  as  a  supreme  court  of  appeal.  The  proclamation  by 
which  it  was  called  together  invited  "  all  who  had  any  grace  to 
demand  of  the  King  in  Parliament,  or  any  plaint  to  make  of 
matters  which  could  not  be  redressed  or  determined  by  ordinary 
course  of  law,  or  who  had  been  in  any  way  aggrieved  by  any  of  the 
King's  ministers  or  justices  or  sheriffs,  or  their  bailiffs,  or  any  other 
officer,  or  have  been  unduly  assessed,  rated,  charged,  or  surcharged 
to  aids,  subsidies,  or  taxes,"  to  deliver  their  petitions  to  receivers 
who  sat  in  the  Great  Hall  of  the  Palace  of  Westminster.  The 
petitions  were  forwarded  to  the  King's  Council,  and  it  was  prob- 
ably the  extension  of  the  jurisdiction  of  that  body,  and  the 
subsequent  rise  of  the  Court  of  Chancery,  which  reduced  this 
ancient  right  of  the  subject  to  the  formal  election  of  "  Triers  of 
Petitions  "  at  the  opening  of  every  new  Parliament  by  the  House 


iv                                THE    THREE    EDWARDS  345 

of  Lords,  a  usage  which  is  still  continued.     But  it  must  have  been  SEC.  in 

owing  to  some  memory  of  the  older  custom  that  the  subject  always  TnTcoN- 

|           1         j     r                   j                                 ....  QUEST   OF 

looked  lor  redress  against  injuries  from  the  Crown  or  its  ministers  SCOTLAND 

to  the  Parliament  of  the  realm.  l*%* 

1305 


Section  III — The  Conquest  of  Scotland,  1290 — 1305 

[Authorities. — Scotland  itself  has  no  contemporary  chronicles  for  this  period  : 
the  jingling  rimes  of  Blind  Harry  are  two  hundred  years  later  than  the  death 
of  his  hero,  Wallace.  Those  of  England  are  meagre  and  inaccurate  ;  the  most 
important  are  the  "  Annales  Anglias  et  Scotias"  and  "  Annales  Regni  Scotias," 
Rishanger's  Chronicle,  his  '•  Gesta  Edwardi  Primi,"  and  three  fragments  of 
annals  (all  published  in  the  Rolls  Series).  The  portion  of  the  so-called  Walsing- 
ham's  History  which  relates  to  this  time  is  now  attributed  by  its  latest  editor, 
Mr.  Riley,  to  Rishanger's  hand.  But  the  main  source  of  our  information  lies  in 
the  copious  collection  of  state  papers  preserved  in  Rymer's  "  Fcedera,"  in  the 
"  Rotuli  Scotiae,"  and  in  the  "  Documents  and  Records  illustrative  of  the  History 
of  Scotland,"  edited  by  Sir  F.  Palgrave.  Mr.  Robertson,  in  his  "  Scotland  under 
her  Early  Kings,"  has  admirably  illustrated  the  ages  before  the  quarrel,  and  Mr. 
Burton  in  his  History  of  Scotland  has  stated  the  quarrel  itself  with  great 
accuracy  and  fairness.  For  Edward's  side  see  the  preface  of  Sir  F.  Palgrave  to 
the  work  above,  and  Mr.  Freeman's  essay  on  "  The  Relations  between  the 
Crowns  of  England  and  Scotland."] 

The  personal  character  of  Edward  the  First  had  borne  a  large    Edward 
part  in  the  constitutional  changes  which  we  have  described,  but  it 
becomes  of  the  highest    moment  during   the   war   with    Scotland 
which  covers  the  latter  half  of  his  reign. 

In  his  own  time,  and  amongst  his  own  subjects,  Edward  was 
the  object  of  almost  boundless  admiration.  He  was  in  the  truest 
sense  a  national  King.  At  the  moment  when  the  last  trace  of 
foreign  conquest  passed  away,  when  the  descendants  of  those  who 
won  and  those  who  lost  at  Senlac  blended  for  ever  into  an  English 
people,  England  saw  in  her  ruler  no  stranger,  but  an  Englishman. 
The  national  tradition  returned  in  more  than  the  golden  hair  or  the 
English  name  which  linked  him  to  our  earlier  Kings.  Edward's 
very  temper  was  English  to  the  core.  In  good  as  in  evil  he  stands 
out  as  the  typical  representative  of  the  race  he  ruled,  like  them 
wilful  and.  imperious,  tenacious  of  his  rights,  indomitable  in  his 
pride,  dogged,  stubborn,  slow  of  apprehension,  narrow  in  sympathy, 


346 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  in      but  like  them,  too,  just   in  the  main,  unselfish,  laborious,  conscien- 
THE  CON-    tious,   haughtily   observant   of    truth    and    self-respect,    temperate. 

QUEST   OF 

SCOTLAND    reverent    of    duty,    religious.        He    inherited     indeed    from    the 
1290 

TO 


1305 


Angevins  their  fierce  and  passionate  wrath  ;  his  punishments, 
when  he  punished  in  anger,  were  without  pity  ;  and  a  priest 
who  ventured  at  a  moment  of  storm  into  his  presence  with  a 

remonstrance  dropped  dead  from  sheer 
fright  at  his  feet.  But  for  the  most  part 
his  impulses  were  generous,  trustful,  averse 
from  cruelty,  prone  to  forgiveness.  "  No 
man  ever  asked  mercy  of  me,"  he  said  in 
his  old  age,  "  and  was  refused."  The 
rough  soldierly  nobleness  of  his  nature 
breaks  out  at  Falkirk,  where  he  lay  on 
the  bare  ground  among  his  men,  or  in  his 
refusal  during  a  Welsh  campaign  to  drink 
of  the  one  cask  of  wine  which  had  been 
saved  from  marauders :  "  It  is  I  who  have 
brought  you  into  this  strait,"  he  said  to 
his  thirsty  fellow-soldiers,  "  and  I  will 
have  no  advantage  of  you  in  meat  or 
drink."  A  strange  tenderness  and  sen- 
sitiveness to  affection  lay  in  fact  beneath 
the  stern  imperiousness  of  his  outer  bear- 
ing. Every  subject  throughout  his  realm 
was  drawn  closer  to  the  King  who  wept 
bitterly  at  the  news  of  his  father's  death, 
though  it  gave  him  a  Crown  ;  whose 
fiercest  burst  of  vengeance  was  called  out 
by  an  insult  to  his  mother ;  whose  crosses 
rose  as  memorials  of  his  love  and  sorrow 
at  every  spot  where  his  wife's  bier  rested. 
"  I  loved  her  tenderly  in  her  lifetime," 

wrote  Edward  to  Eleanor's  friend,  the  Abbot  of  Cluny  ;  "  I  do  not 
cease  to  love  her  now  she  is  dead."  And  as  it  was  with  mother 
and  wife,  so  it  was  with  his  people  at  large.  All  the  self-concen- 
trated isolation  of  the  earlier  Angevins  disappears  in  Edward. 
He  was  the  first  English  king  since  the  Conquest  who  loved 


ELEANOR    OF     CASTII.E. 

From  her  Tomb  in  Westminster 

Abbey.  , 


iv  THE    THREE    EDWARDS  347 

his  people  with  a  personal  love,  and  craved  for  their  love  back     SEC.  in 
again.     To   his   trust   in   them  we  owe  our  Parliament,  to  his  care    THE  CON- 

QUEST   OF 

tor  them  the  great  statutes  which  stand  in  the  forefront  of  our  SCOTLAND 
laws.  Even  in  his  struggles  with  her  England  understood  a 
temper  which  was  so  perfectly  her  own,  and  the  quarrels  between 
King  and  people  during  his  reign  are  quarrels  where,  doggedly 
as  they  fought,  neither  disputant  doubted  for  a  moment  the  worth 
or  affection  of  the.  other.  Few  scenes  in  our  history  are  more 
touching  than  that  which  closes  the  long  contest  over  the  Charter, 
when  Edward  stood  face  to  face  with  his  people  in  Westminster 
Hall,  and  with  a  sudden  burst  of  tears  owned  himself  frankly 
in  the  wrong. 

But  it  was  just  this  sensitiveness,  this  openness  to  outer  impres-  influence 
sions  and  outer  influences,  that  led  to  the  strange  contradictions 
which  meet  us  in  Edward's  career.  Under  the  first  king  whose 
temper  was  distinctly  English  a  foreign  influence  told  most  fatally 
on  our  manners,  our  literature,  our  national  spirit.  The  rise  of 
France  into  a  compact  and  organized  monarchy  from  the  time 
of  Philip  Augustus  was  now  making  its  influence  dominant  in 
Western  Europe.  The  "  chivalry "  so  familiar  in  Froissart,  that 
picturesque  mimicry  of  high  sentiment,  of  heroism,  love,  and 
courtesy,  before  which  all  depth  and  reality  of  nobleness  dis- 
appeared to  make  room  for  the  coarsest  profligacy,  the  narrowest 
caste-spirit,  and  a  brutal  indifference  to  human  suffering,  was 
specially  of  French  creation.  There  was  a  nobleness  in  Edward's 
nature  from  which  the  baser  influences  of  this  chivalry  fell  away. 
His  life  was  pure,  his  piety,  save  when  it  stooped  to  the  supersti- 
tion of  the  time,  manly  and  sincere,  while  his  high  sense  of  duty 
saved  him  from  the  frivolous  self-indulgence  of  his  successors.  But 
he  was  far  from  being  wholly  free  from  the  taint  of  his  age.  His 
passionate  desire  was  to  be  a  model  of  the  fashionable  chivalry  of 
his  day.  He  had  been  famous  from  his  very  youth  as  a  con- 
summate general  ;  Earl  Simon  had  admired  the  5  skill  of  his 
advance  at  Evesham,  and  in  his  Welsh  campaign  he  had  shown 
a  tenacity  and  force  of  will  which  wrested  victory  out  of  the  midst 
of  defeat.  He  could  head  a  furious  charge  of  horse  at  Lewes,  or 
organize  a  commissariat  which  enabled  him  to  move  army  after 
army  across  the  harried  Lowlands.  In  his  old  age  he  was  quick  to 


348  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE         CHAP,  iv 

SKC.  in  discover  the  value  of  the  English  archery,  and  to  employ  it  as  a 

THE  CON-  means  of  victory  at  Falkirk.     But  his  fame  as  a  general  seemed  a 

7UEST    OF 

SCOTLAND  small  thing  to  Edward  when  compared  with  his  fame  as  a  knight. 

TO  He  shared  to  the  full  his  people's  love  of  hard  fighting.    His  frame, 
1305 


TILTING. 

Early  Fourteenth  Century. 
MS.  Roy.  10  E.  iv. 


indeed,  was  that  of  a  born  soldier — tall,  deep-chested,  long  of  limb, 
capable  alike  of  endurance  or  action.  When  he  encountered  Adam 
Gurdon,  a  knight  of  gigantic  size  and  renowned  prowess,  after 
Evesham  he  forced  him  single-handed  to  beg  for  mercy.  At  the 


A    ROYAL    BANQUET,    A.D,    1338—1344. 

MS.  Bodl.  Misc.  264. 

opening  of  his  reign  he  saved  his  life  by  sheer  fighting  in  a  tourna- 
ment at  Challon.  It  was  this  love  of  adventure  which  lent  itself  to 
the  frivolous  unreality  of  the  new  chivalry.  At  his  "  Round  Table 


350  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  in      of  Kenilworth "  a  hundred    lords   and  ladies,    "  clad  all    in    silk," 
THE  CON-    renewed    the   faded    glories  of  Arthur's  Court.      The  false  air   of 

QUEST   OF 

SCOTLAND    romance  which  was  soon  to  turn  the  gravest  political   resolutions 
1290 
TO         into   outbursts  of  sentimental    feeling    appeared    in  his  "Vow  of 

the  Swan,"  when  rising  at  the  royal  board  he  swore  on  the  dish 
before  him  to  avenge  on  Scotland  the  murder  of  Comyn.  Chivalry 
exerted  on  hirft  a  yet  more  fatal  influence  in  its  narrowing  of  his 
sympathy  to  the  noble  class,  and  in  its  exclusion  of  the  peasant 
and  the  craftsman  from  all  claim  to  pity.  "  Knight  without  re- 
proach"  as  he  was,  he  looked  calmly  on  at  the  massacre  of  the 
burghers  of  Berwick,  and  saw  in  William  Wallace  nothing  but  a 
common  robber. 

Influence          Hardly  less  powerful  than  the  French  notion  of  chivalry  in   its 
Legality    influence   on  Edward's  mind   was  the  new  French  conception  of 
kingship,  feudality,  and  law.     The  rise  of  a  lawyer  class  was  every- 
where  hardening   customary  into  written    rights,    allegiance    into 
subjection,  loose  ties  such  as  commendation  into  a  definite  vassal- 
age.    But  it  was  specially  through  French  influence,  the  influence 
of  St.  Lewis  and  his  successors,  that  the   imperial  theories  of  the 
Roman  Law  were  brought  to  bear  upon  this  natural  tendency  of 
v  the  time.     When  the  "  sacred  majesty "  of  the  Caesars  was  trans- 

ferred by  a  legal  fiction  to  the  royal  head  of  a  feudal  baronage, 
every  constitutional  relation  was  changed.  The  "  defiance "  by 
which  a  vassal  renounced  service  to  his  lord  became  treason,  his 
after  resistance  "  sacrilege."  That  Edward  could  appreciate  what  was 
sound  and  noble  in  the  legal  spirit  around  him  was  shown  in  his 
reforms  of  our  judicature  and  our  Parliament ;  but  there  was  some- 
thing as  congenial  to  Kis  mind  in  its  definiteness,  its  rigidity,  its 
narrow  technicalities.  He  was  never  wilfully  unjust,  but  he  was 
too  often  captious  in  his  justice,  fond  of  legal  chicanery,  prompt  to 
take  advantage  of  the  letter  of  the  law.  The  high  conception  of 
royalty  which  he  had  borrowed  from  St.  Lewis  united  with  this  legal 
turn  of  mind  in  the  worst  acts  of  his  reign.  Of  rights  or  liberties 
unregistered  in  charter  or  roll  Edward  would  know  nothing,  while 
his  own  good  sense  was  overpowered  by  the  majesty  of  his  crown. 
It  was  incredible  to  him  that  Scotland  should  revolt  against  a  legal 
bargain  which  made  her  national  independence  conditional  on  the 
terms  extorted  from  a  claimant  of  her  throne ;  nor  could  he  view 


iv  THE    THREE    EDWARDS  351 

in  any  other  light  but  as  treason  the  resistance  of  his  own  baronage     SEC.  in 

to  an  arbitrary  taxation  which  their  fathers  had  borne.     It  is  in  the    THK  CON- 
QUEST OF 
very  anomalies  of  such  a  character,  in  its  strange  union  of  justice    SCOTLAND 

1290 
and  wrong-doing,  of  nobleness  and  meanness,  that  we  must  look  for         TO 

any  fair  explanation  of  much  that  has  since  been  bitterly  blamed  in        — 
Edward's  conduct  and  policy. 

Fairly  to  understand  his  quarrel  with  the  Scots,  we  must  clear  Scotland 
our  minds  of  the  ideas  which  we  now  associate  with  the  words 
'  Scotland,"  or  the  "  Scotch  people."  At  the  opening  of  the  four- 
teenth century  the  kingdom  of  the  Scots  was  composed  of  four 
districts,  each  of  which  had  originally  its  different  people,  its 
different  speech,  or  at  least  dialect,  and  its  different  history.  The 
first  of  these  was  the  Lowland  district,  at  one  time  called  Saxony,  Sa.v  n 
and  which  now  bears  the  name  of  Lothian  and  the  Merse  (or 
border  land),  the  space,  roughly  speaking,  between  the  Forth  and 
Tweed.  We  have  seen  that  at  the  close  of  the  English  conquest 
of  Britain  the  kingdom  of  Northumbria  stretched  from  the  Humber 
to  the  Firth  of  Forth,  and  of  this  kingdom  the  Lowlands  formed 
simply  the  northern  portion.  The  English  conquest  and  the  English 
colonization  were  as  complete  here  as  over  the  rest  of  Britain. 
Rivers  and  hills  indeed  retained  their  Celtic  names,  but  the  "  tons  " 
and  "  hams "  scattered  over  the  country  told  the  story  of  its 
Teutonic  settlement.  Livings  and  Dodings  left  their  names  to 
Livingstone  and  Duddingstone  ;  Elphinstone,  Dolphinstone  and 
Edmundstone  preserved  the  memory  of  English  Elphins,  Dolphins, 
and  Edmunds,  who  had  raised  their  homesteads  beyond  the  Teviot 
and  the  Tweed.  To  the  northward  and  westward  of  this  Nor- 
thumbrian land  lay  the  kingdoms  of  the  conquered.  Over  the 
"  Waste  "  or  "  Desert " — the  range  of  barren  moors  which  stretches 
from  Derbyshire  to  the  Cheviots — the  Briton  had  sought  a  Cumbria 
refuge  in  the  long  strip  of  coast  between  the  Clyde  and  the  Dee 
which  formed  the  earlier  Cumbria.  Against  this  kingdom  the 
efforts  of  the  Northumbrian  rulers  had  been  incessantly  directed  ; 
the  victory  of  Chester  had  severed  it  from  the  Welsh  kingdoms 
to  the  south  ;  Lancashire,  Westmoreland,  and  Cumberland  were 
already  subdued  by  the  time  of  Ecgfrith  ;  while  the  fragment  which 
was  suffered  to  remain  unconquered  between  the  Firths  of  Solway 
and  of  Clyde,  and  to  which  the  name  of  Cumbria  is  in  its  later  use 


352 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  in      confined,    owned    the    English    supremacy.      At    the    close    of  the 
THE  CON-    seventh  century  it  seemed  likely   that    the  same  supremacy  would 

QUEST   OF 

extend  over  the  Celtic  tribes  to  the  north.  The  district  north  of 
the  Clyde  and  Forth  was  originally  inhabited  chiefly  by  the  Picts,  a 
Latin  name  for  the  people  who  seem  to  have  called  themselves 
the  Cruithne.  To  these  Highlanders  the  country  south  of  the 
Forth  was  a  foreign  land,  and  significant  entries  in  their  rude 
chronicles  tell  us  how  in  their  forays  "  the  Picts  made  a  raid  upon 
Saxony."  But  during  the  period  of  Northumbrian  greatness  they 
had  begun  to  yield  at  least  on  their  borders  some  kind  of  sub- 


Q 
SCOTLAND 

1290 

TO 


Pict-land 


582 


685 


EDINBURGH,    FROM    THE    SOUTH. 

Slezer,  "  Theatnun  Scotiee,"  1693. 


mission  to  its  kings.  Eadwine  had  built  a  fort  at  Dunedin,  which 
became  Edinburgh  and  looked  menacingly  across  the  Forth  ;  and 
at  Abercorn  beside  it  was  established  an  English  prelate  with  the 
title  of  Bishop  of  the  Picts.  Ecgfrith,  in  whose  hands  the  power 
of  Northumbria  reached  its  highest  point,  marched  across  the  Forth 
to  change  this  over-lordship  into  a  direct  dominion,  and  to  bring 
the  series  of  English  victories  to  a  close.  His  host  poured  burning 
and  ravaging  across  the  Tay,  and  skirted  the  base  of  the 
Grampians  as  far  as  the  field  of  Nectansmere,  where  King 
Bruidi  awaited  them  at  the  head  of  the  Picts.  The  great  battle 
which  followed  proved  a  turning-point  in  the  history  of  the  North  ; 


CHAP,  iv  THE    THREE    EDWARDS  353 

the  invaders  were  cut  to  pieces,  Ecgfrith  himself  being  among  the     SEC.  in 
slain,  and  the  power  of  Northumbria  was  broken  for  ever.     On  the    THE  C°N- 

QUEST   OF 

other  hand,  the  kingdom  of  the  Picts  started  into  new  life  with  its    SCOTLAND 

1290 
great  victory,  and  pushed  its  way  in  the  hundred  years  that   fol-         TO 

lowed  westward,  eastward,  and  southward,  till  the  whole  country 
north  of  the  Forth  and  the  Clyde  acknowledged  its  supremacy. 
But  the  hour  of  Pictish  greatness  was  marked  by  the  sudden 
extinction  of  the  Pictish  name.  Centuries  before,  when  the  English  Scot-land 
invaders  were  beginning  to  harry  the  south  coast  of  Britain,  a  fleet 
of  coracles  had  borne  a  tribe  of  the  Scots,  as  the  inhabitants  of 
Ireland  were  at  that  time  called,  from  the  black  cliff-walls  of 
Antrim  to  the  rocky  and  indented  coast  of  South  Argyle.  The  little 
kingdom  of  Scot-land  which  these  Irishmen  founded  slumbered  in 
obscurity  among  the  lakes  and  mountains  to  the  south  of  Loch 
Linnhe,  now  submitting  to  the  over-lordship  of  Northumbria,  now 
to  that  of  the  Picts,  till  the  extinction  of  the  direct  Pictish  line  of 
sovereigns  raised  the  Scot  King,  Kenneth  Mac-Alpin,  who  chanced 
to  be  their  nearest  kinsman,  to  the  vacant  throne.  For  fifty  years 
these  rulers  of  Scottish  blood  still  call  themselves  "  Kings  of  the 
Picts  "  ;  but  with  the  opening  of  the  tenth  century  the  very  name 
passes  away,  the  tribe  which  had  given  its  chief  to  the  common 
throne  gives  its  designation  to  the  common  realm,  and  "  Pict-land  " 
vanishes  from  the  page  of  the  chronicler  or  annalist  to  make  way 
for  the  "  land  of  the  Scots." 

It  was  even  longer  before  the  change  made  way  among  the 
people  itself,  and  the  real  union  of  the  nation  with  its  kings  was 
only  effected  by  the  common  suffering  of  the  Danish  wars.  In 
the  north,  as  in  the  south  of  Britain,  the  invasion  of  the  Danes 
brought  about  political  unity.  Not  only  were  Picts  and  Scots 
thoroughly  blended  into  a  single  people,  but  by  the  annexation  of 
Cumbria  and  the  Lowlands,  their  monarchs  became  rulers  of  the 
territory  which  we  now  call  Scotland.  The  annexation  was  owing 
to  the  new  policy  of  the  English  Kings.  Their  aim,  after  the 
long  struggle  of  England  with  the  northmen,  was  no  longer  to 
crush  the  kingdom  across  the  Forth,  but  to  raise  it  into  a  bulwark 
against  the  northmen  who  were  still  settled  in  Caithness  and  the 
Orkneys,  and  for  whose  aggressions  Scotland  was  the  natural  high- 
way. On  the  other  hand,  it  was  only  in  English  aid  that  the  Scot 
VOL.  1—23 


BONE    CHF.SS  MEN,    OF    SCANDINAVIAN     DESIGN. 

Twelfth  or  Thirteenth  Century. 
Found  in  Isle  of  Lewis ;   now  in  British  Museum. 


CHAP.  IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


355 


Kings  could  find  a  support  for  their  throne  against  these  Norse 
Jarls  of   Orkney  and  Caithness.      It  was  probably  this  common 
hostility  to  a  common  foe  which  brought  about  the  "  commenda- 
tion "  by  which  the  Scots  beyond  the  Forth,  with  the  Welsh  of 
Strath-clyde,   chose   the    English    King,  Eadward  the   Elder,  "  to 
father  and  lord."     The  choice,  whatever  weight  after  events  may 
have  given  to  it,  seems  to  have  been  little  more  than  the  renewal  of 
the  loose  English  supremacy  over  the  tribes  of  the  North  which 
had    existed    during    the   times   of    Northumbrian   greatness ;    it 
certainly  implied  at  the  time  nothing  save  a  right  on  either  side  to 
military  aid,  though  the  aid  then  rendered  was  necessarily  placed  in 
the  hands  of  the  stronger  party  to  the  agreement.    Such  a  connexion 
naturally  ceased  in  the  event  of  any  war  between  the  two  contract- 
ing parties  ;  it  was  in  fact  by  no  means  the  feudal  vassalage  of  a 
later  time,  but  rather  a  military  convention.     But  loose  as  was  the 
tie  which  bound  the  two  countries,  a  closer  tie  soon  bound  the  Scot 
King  himself  to  his  English   overlord.     Strath-clyde,  which,  after 
the  defeat  of  Nectansmere,  had  shaken  off  the  English  yoke,  and 
which  at  a  later  time  had  owned  the  supremacy  of  the  Scots,  rose 
into    a    temporary   independence    only   to   be   conquered   by  the 
English    Eadmund.     By    him    it    was    granted    to    Malcolm    of 
Scotland  on  condition  that  he  should  become  his  "  fellow-worker  " 
both  by  land  and  sea,  and  became  from  that  time  the  appanage  of 
the  eldest  son  of  the  Scottish  king.     At  a  later  time,  under  Eadgar 
or  Cnut,  the  whole  of  Northern  Northumbria,  or  what  we  now  call 
the  Lothians,  was  ceded  to  the  Scottish  sovereigns,  but  whether  on 
the  same  terms  of  feudal  dependence  or  on  the  same  loose  terms  of 
"  commendation  "  as  already  existed  for  lands  north  of  the  Forth, 
we   have    no    means   of  deciding.     The   retreat,   however,    of  the 
bounds  of  the  great  English  bishopric  of  the  North,  the  see  of  St. 
Cuthbert,  as  far  southward  as  the   Pentland  Hills,  would   seem  to 
imply  a  greater  change  in  the  political  character  of  the  ceded  dis- 
trict than  the  first  theory  would  allow. 

Whatever  change  these  cessions  may  have  brought  about  in  the 
relation  of  the  Scottish  to  the  English  Kings,  they  certainly 
affected  in  a  very  marked  way  their  relation  both  to  England  and 
to  their  own  realm.  One  result  of  the  acquisition  of  the  Lowlands 
was  the  ultimate  fixing  of  the  royal  residence  in  their  new  southern 


SEC.  Ill 

THE  CON- 
QUEST OF 
SCOTLAND 

1290 

TO 
1305 


924 


Grant  of 
Strath- 
clyde  to 
the  Scot 
King 


Grant  of 
Northern 
Northum- 
bria 


England 

and  the 

Scot 

Kings 


S.    LUKE. 
Gospel-Book  of  S.  Margaret,  Queen  of  Scotland;  now  in  the  Bodleian  Library. 


CHAP.  IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


357 


dominion  at  Edinburgh  ;  and  the  English  civilization  with  which 
they  were  then  surrounded  changed  the  Scot  Kings  in  all  but  blood 
into  Englishmen.  A  way  soon  opened  itself  to  the  English  crown 
by  the  marriage  of  Malcolm  with  Margaret,  the  sister  of  Eadgar 
^theling.  Their  children  were  regarded  by  a  large  party  within 
England  as  representatives  of  the  older  royal  race  and  as  claimants 
of  the  throne,  and  this  da-nger  grew  as  William's  devastation  of  the 
North  not  only  drove  fresh  multitudes  of  Englishmen  to  settle  in  the 


SEC.  Ill 

THE  CON- 
QUEST OF 
SCOTLAND 
1290 

TO 
I30S 

1069 


s.   MARGARET'S  CHAPEL,  EDINBURGH   CASTLE. 


Lowlands,  but  filled  the  Scotch  court  with  English  nobles,  who  fled 
thither  for  refuge.  So  formidable,  indeed,  became  the  pretensions 
of  the  Scot  Kings,  that  they  forced  the  ablest  of  our  Norman 
sovereigns  into  a  complete  change  of  pplicy.  The  Conqueror  and 
William  the  Red  had  met  the  threats  of  the  Scot  sovereigns  by 
invasions  which  ended  again  and  again  in  an  illusory  homage ;  but 
the  marriage  of  Henry  the  First  with  the  Scottish  Matilda  not  only 
robbed  the  claims  of  the  Scottish  line  of  much  of  their  force,  but  iioo 
enabled  him  to  draw  it  into  far  closer  relations  with  the  Norman  r, 

David 

throne.     King  David  not  only  abandoned  the  ambitious  dreams  of  1124-1153 


358 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  in     his   predecessors  to  place  himself  later  at  the  head  of  his  niece 


THE  CON-     Matilda's    party    in    her    contest    with    Stephen,    but    as     Henry's 

QUEST  OF  ~    J  * 

SCOTLAND 

1290 

TO 
1305 

organization  which  he  attempted  within  his  own  dominions.     As, 
the  marriage  with  Margaret  had  changed  Malcolm  from  a  Celtic 


brother-in-law  he  figured  as  the  first  noble  of  the   English  court, 
and  found    English  models  and   English  support  in  the  work  of 


WEST     DOOR    OF    ABERBROTHOCK    ABBEY. 
Built  by  William  the  Lion. 


chieftain  into  an  English  King,  so  that  of  Matilda  converted  David 
into  a  Norman  and  feudal  sovereign.  His  court  was  filled  with 
Norman  nobles  from  the  South,  such  as  the  Balliols  and  Bruces, 
who  were  destined  to  play  so  great  a  part  afterwards  but  who  now 
for  the  first  time  obtained  fiefs  in  the  Scottish  realm  ;  and  a  feudal 
jurisprudence  modelled  on  that  of  England  was  introduced  into  the 


iv  THE    THREE    EDWARDS  359 

Lowlands.     A  fresh  connexion  between  the  countries  began  with      SEC,  in 
the  grant  of  lordships  in  England  to  the  Scot  Kings  or  their  sons.     THE  CoN~ 

Homage  was  sometimes  rendered,  whether  for  these  lordships,  for    SCOTLAND 

1290 

the  Lowlands,   or  for  the   whole  Scottish   realm,  but   it  was   the         TO 

1305 
capture   of  William   the    Lion   during  the   revolt  of  the   English 

baronage  which  suggested  to  Henry  the  Second  the  project  of  a 
closer  dependence  of  Scotland  on  the  English  Crown.     To  gain  his 
freedom,  William  consented  to  hold  his  crown  of  Henry  and  his 
heirs,  the  prelates  and  lords  of  the  Scotch  kingdom  did  homage  to 
Henry  as  to  their  direct  lord,  and  a  right  of  appeal  in  all  Scotch 
causes  was  allowed  to  the  superior  court  of  the  English  suzerain. 
From  this  bondage,  however,  Scotland  was  soon  freed  by  the   pro- 
digality of  Richard,  who  allowed  her  to  buy  back  the  freedom  she 
had  forfeited,  and  from  that  time  the  difficulties  of  the  older  claim 
were  evaded  by  a  legal  compromise.     The  Scot  Kings  repeatedly 
did  homage  to  the   English  sovereign,  but  with  a  reservation  of 
rights  which  were  prudently  left  unspecified.     The   English  King 
accepted  the  homage  on  the  assumption  that  it  was  rendered  to 
him  as  overlord  of  the    Scottish  realm,  and  this  assumption  was 
neither   granted    nor   denied.     For    nearly   a    hundred   years   the 
relations  of  the  two  countries  were  thus  kept  peaceful  and  friendly, 
and  the  death  of  Alexander  the  Third  seemed  destined  to  remove        I286 
even  the  necessity  of  protests  by  a  closer  union  of  the  two  king- 
doms.    Alexander  had  wedded  his  only  daughter  to  the  King  of 
Norway,  and  after  long  negotiation  the  Scotch  Parliament  proposed 
the  marriage  of  her  child  Margaret,  "the  Maid  of  Norway,"  with  the 
son  of  Edward  the  First.    It  was,  however,  carefully  provided  in  the 
marriage  treaty  of  Brigham  that  Scotland  should  remain  a  separate        1290 
and  free  kingdom,  and  that  its  laws  and  customs  should  be  preserved 
inviolate.     No  military  aid  was  to  be  claimed  by  the  English  King, 
no  Scotch  appeal  to  be  carried  to  an  English  court.  But  this  project 
was  abruptly  frustrated  by  the  child's  death  on  her  voyage  to  Scot- 
land, and  with  the  rise  of  claimant  after  claimant  of  the  vacant  throne 
Edward  was  drawn  into  far  other  relations  to  the  Scottish  realm. 

Of  the  thirteen  pretenders  to  the  throne  of  Scotland,  only  three  The  First 
could  be  regarded  as  serious  claimants.     By  the  extinction  of  the          *;      - 
line  of  William   the    Lion    the  right  of  succession  passed  to   the 
daughters  of  his  brother  David.      The  claim  of  John  Balliol,  Lord 


|Mmm|M 

12*£ffllMMiiib  j   L  .'• 


pa  -^ 
<  1* 
cq 
f- 


CHAP,  iv  THE    THREE    EDWARDS  361 

of  Galloway,  rested  on  his  descent  from  the  eldest  of  these  ;  that  of     SEC.  in 

Robert  Bruce,  Lord  of  Annandale,  on  his  descent  from  the  second  :    THE  CON- 
QUEST OF 
that  of  John  Hastings,  Lord  of  Abergavenny,  on  his  descent  from    SCOTLAND 

the  third.  At  this  crisis  the  Norwegian  King,  the  Primate  of  St. 
Andrew's,  and  seven  of  the  Scotch  Earls,  had  already  appealed  to 
Edward  before  Margaret's  death  ;  and  the  death  itself  was  followed 
by  the  consent  both  of  the  claimants  and  the  Council  of  Regency 
to  refer  the  question  of  the  succession  to  his  decision  in  a  Parlia- 
ment at  Norham.  But  the  over-lordship  which  the  Scots  acknow- 
ledged was  something  far  less  direct  and  definite  than  what  Edward  May>  I29* 
claimed  at  the  opening  of  this  conference.  His  claim  was  supported 
by  excerpts  from  English  monastic  chronicles,  and  by  the  slow 
advance  of  an  English  army,  while  the  Scotch  lords,  taken  by  sur- 
prise, found  little  help  in  the  delay  which  was  granted  them,  and  at 
last,  in  common  with  nine  of  the  claimants  themselves,  formally 
admitted  Edward's  direct  [suzerainty/  Xb\  the  nobles,  in  fact,  the 
concession  must  have  seemed  a  small  one,  for  like  the  principal 
claimants  they  were  for  the  most  part*  Norman  in  blood,  with 
estates  in  both  countries  and  looking  for  hd'n^urs  and  pensions  from 
the  English  Court.  From  the  Commons  who  y^^re  gathered  with 
the  nobles  at  Norham  no  admission  of  Edward's  claims  could  be 
extorted  ;  but  in  Scotland,  feudalized  as  it  had  been  by  David,  the 
Commons  were  as  yet  of  little  weight,  and  their  opposition  was 
quietly  passed  by.  All  the  rights  of  a  feudal  suzerain'  were  at  once 
assumed  by  the  English  King  ;  he  entered  into  the  possession  of  the 
country  as  into  that  of  a  disputed  fief  to  be  held  by  its  over-lord  till 
the  dispute  was  settled,  his  peace  was  sworn  throughout  the  land,  its 
castles  delivered  into  his  charge,  while  its  bishops  and  nobles  swore 
homage  to  him  directly  as  their  lord  superior.  Scotland  was  thus 
reduced  to  the  subjection  which  she  had  experienced  under  Henry 
the  Second,  but  the  full  discussion  which  followed  over  the  various 
claims  to  the  throne  showed  that,  while  exacting  to  the  full  what 
he  believed  to  be  his  right,  Edward  desired  to  do  justice  to  the 
country  itself.  The  commissioners  whom  he  named  to  report  on 
the  claims  to  the  throne  were  mainly  Scotch ;  a  proposal  for  the 
partition  of  the  realm  among  the  claimants  was  rejected  as  contrary 
to  Scotch  law ;  and  the  claim  of  Balliol  as  representative  of  the 
elder  branch  was  finally  preferred  to  that  of  his  rivals. 


362 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  Ill 

THE  CON- 
QUEST OF 
SCOTLAND 

1290 

TO 
1305 


The  castles  were  at  once  delivered  to  the  new  monarch,  and 
Balliol  did  homage  to  Edward  with  full  acknowledgement  of  the 
services  due  to  him  from  the  realm  of  Scotland.  For  a  time  there 
was  peace.  Edward  in  fact  seemed  to  have  no  desire  to  push 
farther  the  rights  of  his  crown.  Even  allowing  that  Scotland  was 
a  dependent  kingdom,  it  was  far  from  being  an  ordinary  fief  of  the 
English  Crown.  By  feudal  custom  a  distinction  had  always  been 
held  to  exist  between  the  relations  of  a  dependent  king  to  a 
superior  lord  and  those  of  a  vassal  noble  to  his  sovereign.  At 
Balliol's  homage  Edward  had  disclaimed,  in  strict  accordance  with 
the  marriage  treaty  of  Brigham,  any  right  to  the  ordinary 


CAERLAVEROCK      CASTLE- 
After  J.  M.  W.    Turner. 

incidents  of  a  fief,  those  of  wardship  or  marriage ;  but  there  were 
other  customs  of  the  realm  of  Scotland  as  incontestable  as  these. 
The  Scot  King  had  never  been  held  bound  to  attend  the  council 
of  the  English  baronage,  to  do  service  in  English  warfare,  or  to 
contribute  on  the  part  of  his  Scotch  realm  to  English  aids.  No 
express  acknowledgement  of  these  rights  had  been  given  by 
Edward,  but  for  a  time  they  were  practically  observed.  The  claim 
of  independent  justice  was  more  doubtful,  as  it  was  of  higher 
import  than  these.  It  was  certain  that  no  appeal  from  a  Scotch 
King's  court  to  that  of  his  supposed  overlord  had  been  allowed 


iv  THE    THREE    EDWARDS  363 

since  the  days  of  William  the  Lion,  and  the  judicial  independence      SEC.  in 
of  Scotland  had   been  expressly  reserved  in  the  marriage  treaty.     THE  C°N- 

J  QUEST   OF 

But  in  feudal  jurisprudence  the  right  of  ultimate  appeal  was  the    ScoTLAND 

1290 
test  of   sovereignty.       This    right  of  appeal  Edward    now  deter-         TO 

mined  to  enforce,  and  Balliol  at  first  gave  way.  It  was  alleged, 
however,  that  the  resentment  of  his  baronage  and  people  forced 
him  to  resist  ;  and  while  appearing  formally  at  Westminster  he 
refused  to  answer  an  appeal  save  by  advice  of  his  Council.  He 
was  in  fact  looking  to  France,  which,  as  we  shall  afterwards  see, 
was  jealously  watching  Edward's  proceedings,  and  ready  to  force 
him  into  war.  By  a  new  breach  of  customary  law  Edward 
summoned  the  Scotch  nobles  to  follow  him  in  arms  against  this 
foreign  foe.  But  the  summons  was  disregarded,  and  a  second  and 
formal  refusal  of  aid  was  followed  by  a  secret  alliance  with  France 
and  by  a  Papal  absolution  of  Balliol  from  his  oath  of  fealty. 

Edward  was  still  reluctant  to  begin  the  war,  when  all  hope  of 
accommodation  was  ended  by  the  refusal  of  Balliol  to  attend  his 
Parliament  at  Newcastle,  the  rout  of  a  small  body  of  English 
troops,  and  the  investment  of  Carlisle  by  the  Scots.  Orders  were  129^ 
at  once  given  for  an  advance  upon  Berwick.  The  taunts  of  its 
citizens  stung  the  King  to  the  quick.  "  Kynge  Edward,  waune  thou 
havest  Berwick,  pike  thee  ;  waune  thou  havest  geten,  dike  thee," 
they  shouted  from  behind  the  wooden  stockade,  which  formed  the 
only  rampart  of  the  town.  But  the  stockade  was  stormed  with 
the  loss  of  a  single  knight,  and  nearly  eight  thousand  of  the 
citizens  were  mown  down  in  a  ruthless  carnage,  while  a  handful  of 
Flemish  traders  who  held  the  town-hall  stoutly  against  all  assail- 
ants were  burned  alive  in  it.  The  massacre  only  ceased  when  a 
procession  of  priests  bore  the  host  to  the  King's  presence,  praying 
for  mercy,  and  Edward  with  a  sudden  and  characteristic  burst  of 
tears  called  off  his  troops  ;  but  the  town  was  ruined  for  ever,  and 
the  great  merchant  city  of  the  North  sank  from  that  time  into  a 
petty  seaport.  At  Berwick  Edward  received  Balliol's  defiance. 
"  Has  the  fool  done  this  folly  ? "  the  King  cried  in  haughty  scorn. 
"  If  he  will  not  come  to  us,  we  will  come  to  him."  The  terrible 
slaughter,  however,  had  done  its  work,  and  his  march  was  a 
triumphal  progress.  Edinburgh,  Stirling,  and  Perth  opened  their 
gates,  Bruce  joined .  the  English  army,  and  Balliol  himself 


364 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  in      surrendered  and  passed  without  a  blow  from  his  throne  to  an  Eng- 
THE  CON-    lish  prison.     No  further  punishment,  however,  was  exacted  from  the 

QUEST   OF 

SCOTLAND    prostrate  realm.       Edward  simply  treated  it  as   a  fief,  and  declared 
1290 

TO 


1305 


its  forfeiture  to  be  the  legal  consequence  of  Balliol's  treason.  It 
lapsed  in  fact  to  the  overlord,  and  its  earls,  barons,  and  gentry 
swore  homage  in  Parliament  at  Berwick  to  Edward  as  their  king. 

o  o 

The  sacred  stone  on  which 
its  older  sovereigns  had 
been  installed,  an  oblong 
block  of  sandstone,  which 
legend  asserted  to  have 
been  the  pillow  of  Jacob 
as  angels  ascended  and 
descended  upon  him,  was 
removed  from  Scone  and 
placed  in  Westminster  by 
the  shrine  of  the  Con- 
fessor. It  was  enclosed 
by  Edward's  order  in  a 
stately  seat,  which  became 
from  that  hour  the  cor- 
onation chair  of  English 
kings. 

The  To  the   King  himself 

Second 
Conquest  the  whole  business  must 

1297-1305  have  seemed  another  and 
easier  conquest  of  Wales, 
and  the  mercy  and  just 
government  which  had 
followed  his  first  success 
followed  his  second  also.  The  government  of  the  new  dependency 
was  entrusted  to  Wrarenne,  Earl  of  Surrey,  at  the  head  of  an 
English  Council  of  Regency.  Pardon  was  freely  extended  to  all 
who  had  resisted  the  invasion,  and  order  and  public  peace  were 
rigidly  enforced.  But  both  the  justice  and  injustice  of  the  new  rule 
proved  fatal  to  it  ;  the  wrath  of  the  Scots,  already  kindled  by 
the  intrusion  of  English  priests  into  Scotch  livings,  and  by  the 
grant  of  lands  across  the  border  to  English  barons,  was  fanned  to 


TIIS    CORONATION-CHAIR,     WESTMINSTER 
ABBEY. 


IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


365 


1305 


fury  by  the  strict  administration   of    law,  and  the  repression   of     SEC.  in 

feuds   and  cattle-lifting;.     The    disbanding;,  too,   of    troops,  which    THE  CON- 
QUEST OF 

was     caused    by   the    penury    of    the    royal    exchequer,    united    SCOTLAND 
with  the   licence   of    the   soldiery  who  remained  to  quicken  the         TO 
national  sense  of  wrong.      The  disgraceful  submission   of.  their 
leaders  brought  the  people  themselves  to  the  front.      In  spite  of  a 
hundred    years    of   peace    the    farmer  of   the   Lowlands  and   the 
artisan  of  the  towns  remained  stout-hearted  Northumbrian  English- 
men ;  they  had  never  consented  to  Edward's  supremacy,  and  their 


STIRLING. 

After  J.  M.   IV.  Turner. 


blood  rose  against  the  insolent  rule  of  the  stranger.  The  genius 
of  an  outlaw  knight,  William  Wallace,  saw  in  their  smouldering 
discontent  a  hope  of  freedom  for  his  country,  and  his  daring  raids 
on  outlying  parties  of  the  English  soldiery  roused  the  country  at 
last  into  revolt.  Of  Wallace  himself,  of  his  life  or  temper,  we 
know  little  or  nothing  ;  the  very  traditions  of  his  gigantic  stature 
and  enormous  strength  are  dim  and  unhistorical.  But  the  instinct 
of  the  Scotch  people  has  guided  it  aright  in  choosing  Wallace  for 
its  national  hero.  He  was  the  first  to  assert  freedom  as  a  national 
birthright,  and  amidst  the  despair  of  nobles  and  priests  to  call 


366 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP 


SEC.  in      the  people  itself  to  arms.      At  the  head  of  an  army  drawn  prin- 
THE  CON-    cipally  from   the    coast  districts    north    of    the    Tay,  which  were 

QUEST   OF 

SCOTLAND    inhabited    by   a   population    of    the   same    blood    as  that   of   the 
1290 

TO 


1305 


Lowlands,  Wallace,  in  September,  1297,  encamped  near  Stirling, 
the  pass  between  the  north  and  the  south,  and  awaited  the  Eng- 
lish advance.  The  offers  of  John  of  Warenne  were  scornfully 
rejected  :  "  We  have  come,"  said  the  Scottish  leader,  "  not  to  make 
Battle  of  peace  but  to  free  our  country."  The  position  of  Wallace,  a  rise  of 

Stirling     r 

Sept.  1297  hills  behind  a  loop  of  Forth,  was  in  fact  chosen  with  consummate 
skill.  The  one  bridge  which  crossed  the  river  was  only  broad 
enough  to  admit  two  horsemen  abreast  ;  and  though  the  English 
army  had  been  passing  from  daybreak,  only  half  its  force  was 
across  at  noon  when  Wallace  closed  on  it  and  cut  it  after  a  short 
combat  to  pieces  in  the  sight  of  its  comrades.  The  retreat  of  the 
Earl  of  Surrey  over  the  border  left  Wallace  head  of  the  country  he 
had  freed,  and  for  a  time  he  acted  as  "  Guardian  of  the  Realm" 
in  Balliol's  name,  and  headed  a  wild  foray  into  Northumberland. 
His  reduction  of  Stirling  Castle  at  last 
called  Edward  to  the  field.  The  King,  who 
marched  northward  with  a  larger  host 
than  had  ever  followed  his  banner,  was 
enabled  by  treachery  to  surprise  Wallace, 
as  he  fell  back  to  avoid  an  engagement  and 
to  force  him  to  battle  near  Falkirk.  The 
Scotch  force  consisted  almost  wholly  of 
foot,  and  Wallace  drew  up  his  spearmen  in 
four  great  hollow  circles  or  squares,  the 
outer  ranks  kneeling,  and  the  whole  sup- 
ported by  bowmen  within,  while  a  small 
force  of  horse  were  drawn  up  as  a  reserve 
in  the  rear.  It  was  the  formation  of  Water- 
loo, the  first  appearance  in  our  history 
since  the  day  of  Senlac  of  "that  uncon- 
querable British  infantry,"  before  which 
chivalry  was  destined  to  go  down.  For  a 

moment  it  had  all  Waterloo's  success.  "  I  have  brought  you 
to  the  ring,  hop  (dance)  if  you  can,"  are  words  of  rough 
humour  that  reveal  the  very  soul  of  the  patriot  leader,  and  the 


SCOTTISH    FOOT   SOLDIER 

Temp.   Edward  I. 

Chapter  House  Liber  A. 

Public  Record  Office. 


iv  THE    THREE    EDWARDS  367 

serried  ranks  answered  well  to  his  appeal.  The  Bishop  of  Durham,  SEC.  in 
who  led  the  English  van,  shrank  wisely  from  the  look  of  the  T"|sC°0Np 
squares.  "  Back  to  your  mass,  Bishop,"  shouted  the  reckless  SCOTLAND 
knights  behind  him,  but  the  body  of  horse  dashed  itself  vainly  on 
the  wall  of  spears.  Terror  spread  through  the  English  army,  and 
its  Welsh  auxiliaries  drew  off  in  a  body  from  the  field.  But  the  Falkirk 
generalship  of  Wallace  was  met  by  that  of  the  King.  Drawing  Jul? 
his  bowmen  to  the  front,  Edward  riddled  the  Scottish  ranks  with 
arrows,  and  then  hurled  his  cavalry  afresh  on  the  wavering  line. 
In  a  moment  all  was  over,  and  the  maddened  knights  rode  in  and 
out  of  the  broken  ranks,  slaying  without  mercy.  Thousands  fell 
on  the  field,  and  Wallace  himself  escaped  with  difficulty,  followed 
by  a  handful  of  men.  But  ruined  as  the  cause  of  freedom  seemed, 
his  work  was  done.  He  had  roused  Scotland  into  life,  and  even 
a  defeat  like  Falkirk  left  her  unconquered.  Edward  remained 
master  only  of  the  ground  he  stood  on  ;  want  of  supplies  forced 
him  to  retreat ;  and  in  the  following  year  a  regency  of  Scotch 
nobles  under  Bruce  and  Comyn  continued  the  struggle  for 
independence.  Troubles  at  home  and  dangers  from  abroad  stayed  1300 
Edward's  hand.  The  barons  were  pressing  more  and  more 
vigorously  for  redress  of  their  grievances  and  the  heavy  taxation 
brought  about  by  the  war.  France  was  still  menacing,  and  a 
claim  advanced  by  Pope  Boniface  the  Eighth,  at  its  suggestion,  to  i3°3 
the  feudal  superiority  over  Scotland,  arrested  a  fresh  advance  of 
the  King.  A  quarrel,  however,  which  broke  out  between  Philippe 
le  Bel  and  the  Papacy  removed  all  obstacles,  and  enabled  Edward 
to  defy  Boniface  and  to  wring  from  France  a  treaty  in  which 
Scotland  was  abandoned.  In  1304  he  resumed  the  work  of 
invasion,  and  again  the  nobles  flung  down  their  arms  as  he 
marched  to  the  North.  Comyn,  at  the  head  of  the  Regency, 
acknowledged  his  sovereignty,  and  the  surrender  of  Stirling  com- 
pleted the  conquest  of  Scotland.  The  triumph  of  Edward  was  but 
the  prelude  to  the  full  execution  of  his  designs  for  knitting 
the  two  countries  together  by  a  clemency  and  wisdom  which  re- 
veal the  greatness  of  his  statesmanship.  A  general  amnesty  was 
extended  to  all  who  had  shared  in  the  revolt.  Wallace,  who 
refused  to  avail  himself  of  Edward's  mercy,  was  captured,  and 
condemned  to  death  at  Westminster  on  charges  of  treason, 


368  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PE.OPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  iv      sacrilege,  and  robbery.     The  head  of  the  great  patriot,  crowned  in 
THE        mockery    with     a  circlet    of    laurel,    was    placed    upon     London 

ENGLISH  J 

TOWNS  Bridge.  But  the  execution  of  Wallace  was  the  one  blot  on 
Edward's  clemency.  With  a  masterly  boldness  he  entrusted  the 
government  of  the  country  to  a  council  of  Scotch  nobles,  many  of 
whom  were  freshly  pardoned  for  their  share  in  the  war,  and 
anticipated  the  policy  of  Cromwell  by  allotting  ten  representatives 
to  Scotland  in  the  Common  Parliament  of  his  realm.  A  Con- 
vocation was  summoned  at  Perth  for  the  election  of  these  repre- 
sentatives, and  a  great  judicial  scheme  which  was  promulgated  in 
this  assembly  adopted  the  amended  laws  of  King  David  as  the 
base  of  a  new  legislation,  and  divided  the  country  for  judicial 
purposes  into  four  districts,  Lothian,  Galloway,  the  Highlands,  and 
the  land  between  the  Highlands  and  the  Forth,  at  the  head  of 
each  of  which  were  placed  two  justiciars,  the  one  English  and  the 
other  Scotch. 


Section  IV.— The  English  Towns 

[Authorities. — For  the  general  history  of  London  see  its  "  Liber  Albus"  and 
"  Liber  Custumarum,''  in  the  series  of  the  Master  of  the  Rolls  ;  for  its  communal 
revolution,  the  "  Liber  de  Antiquis  Legibus,"  edited  by  Mr.  Stapleton  for  the 
Camden  Society  ;  for  the  rising  of  William  Longbeard,  the  story  in  William  of 
Newburgh.  In  his  "Essay  on  English  Municipal  History"  (1867),  Mr. 
Thompson  has  given  a  useful  account  of  the  relations  of  Leicester  with  its  Earls. 
A  great  store  of  documents  will  be  found  in  the  Charter  Rolls  published  by  the 
Record  Commission,  in  Brady's  work  on  English  Boroughs,  and  (though  rather 
for  Parliamentary  purposes)  in  Stephen's  and  Merewether's  "  History  of 
Boroughs  and  Corporations."  But  the  only  full  and  scientific  examination  of 
our  early  municipal  history,  at  least  on  one  of  its  sides,  is  to  be  found  in  the 
Essay  prefixed  by  Dr.  Brentano  to  the  "  Ordinances  of  English  Gilds,"  published 
by  the  Early  English  Text  Society.] 

From  scenes  such  as  we  have  been  describing,  from  the  wrong 
and  bloodshed  of  foreign  conquest,  we  pass  to  the  peaceful  life  and 
progress  of  England  itself. 

Through  the  reign  of  the  three  Edwards  two  revolutions,  which 
have  been  almost  ignored  by  our  historians,  were  silently  changing 
the  whole  character  of  English  society.  The  first  of  these,  the  rise 
of  a  new  class  of  tenant-farmers,  we  shall  have  to  notice  hereafter 


IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


369 


THE 
ENGLISH 
TOWNS 


in  its  connection  with  the  great  agrarian  revolt  which  bears  the     SEC,  iv 
name  of  Wat  Tyler.     The  second,  the  rise  of  the  craftsmen  within 
our  towns,  and  the  struggle  by  which  they  won  power  and  privilege 
from  the  older  burghers,  is  the  most  remarkable  event  in  the  period 
of  our  national  history  at  which  we  have  arrived. 

The  English  borough  was  originally  a  mere  township  or  group  of 
townships  whose  inhabitants  happened,  either  for  purposes  of  trade  Boroughs 
or  protection,  to  cluster  together  more  thickly  than  elsewhere.     It 
is  this  characteristic  of  our  boroughs  which  separates  them  at  once 
from  the  cities  of  Italy  and   Provence,  which  had  preserved  the 
municipal  institutions  of  their  Roman  past,  from  the  German  towns 
founded  by  Henry 
the     Fowler    with 
the  special  purpose 
of  sheltering  indus- 
try from  the  feudal 
oppression  around 
them,  or  from  the 
communes  of  nor- 


FELLING    A    TREE. 

Probably  drawn  by  Matthew  Paris. 

MS.  Cott.  Nero  D.  i. 


them  France  which 
sprang  into  ex- 
istence in  revolt 
against  feudal  out- 
rage within  their 
walls.  But  in  Eng- 
land the  tradition 
of  Rome  had  ut- 
terly passed  away, 
while  feudal  op- 
pression was  held  fairly  in  check  by  the  Crown.  The  English 
town,  therefore,  was  in  its  beginning  simply  a  piece  of  the  general 
country,  organized  and  governed  precisely  in  the  same  manner  as 
the  townships  around  it.  The  burh  or  borough  was  probably  a 
more  defensible  place  than  the  common  village  ;  it  may  have  had 
a  ditch  or  mound  about  it  instead  of  the  quickset-hedge  or  "  tun  " 
from  which  the  township  took  its  name.  But  its  constitution  was 
simply  that  of  the  people  at  large.  The  obligations  of  the  dwellers 
within  its  bounds  were  those  of  the  townships  round,  to  keep  fence 
VOL.  1—24 


37° 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  IV 

THE 
ENGLISH 
TOWNS 


and  trench  in  good  repair,  to  send  a  contingent  to  the  fyrd,  and  a 
reeve  and  four  men  to  the  hundred  court  and  shire  court ;  and  the 
inner  rule  of  the  borough  lay  as  in  the  townships  about  in  the 
hands  of  its  own  freemen,  gathered  in  "  boroughmoot "  or  "  port- 
mannimote."  But  the  social  change  brought  about  by  the  Danish 
wars,  the  legal  requirement  that  each  man  should  have  a  lord, 
affected  the  towns,  as  it  affected  the  rest  of  the  country.  Some 
passed  into  the  hands  of  great  thegns  near  to  them  ;  the  bulk 
became  known  as  in  the  demesne  of  the  king.  A  new  officer,  the 
lord's  or  king's  reeve,  was  a  sign  of  this  revolution.  It  was  the 
reeve  who  now  summoned  the  borough-moot  and  administered 
justice  in  it ;  it  was  he  who  collected  the  lord's  dues  or  annual 
rent  of  the  town,  and  who  exacted  the  services  it  owed  to  its 

lord.  To  modern 
eyes  these  ser- 
vices would  imply 
almost  complete 
subjection.  When 
Leicester,  for  in- 
stance, passed 
from  the  hands 
of  the  Conqueror 
into  those  of  its 
Earls,  its  towns- 
men were  bound 
to  reap  their, 
lord's  corn-crops, 

to  grind  at  his  mill,  to  redeem  their  strayed  cattle  from  his  pound. 
The  great  forest  around  was  the  Earl's,  and  it  was  only  out  of  his 
grace  that  the  little  borough  could  drive  its  swine  into  the  woods 
or  pasture  its  cattle  in  the  glades.  The  justice  and  government  of 
the  town  lay  wholly  in  its  master's  hands;  he  appointed  its  bailiffs, 
received  the  fines  and  forfeitures  of  his  tenants,  and  the  fees  and 
tolls  of  their  markets  and  fairs.  But  when  once  these  dues  were 
paid  and  these  services  rendered  the  English  townsman  was 
practically  free.  His  rights  were  as  rigidly  defined  by  custom  as 
those  of  his  lord.  Property  and  person  alike  were  secured  against 
arbitrary  seizure.  He  could  demand  a  fair  trial  on  any  charge,  and 


WINDMILL,    A.D.    1338 — 1344. 
MS.  Bodl.  Misc.  264. 


iv  THE    THREE    EDWARDS  371 

even  if  justice  was  administered  by  his  master's  reeve  it  was  ad-      SEC.  iv 
ministered    in   the  presence  and    with   the   assent   of  his    fellow-        THE 

ENGLISH 

townsmen.      The   bell    which    swung   out    from    the    town    tower      ToWNS 
gathered  the  burgesses  to  a  common  meeting,  where  they  could 
exercise  rights  of  free  speech  and  free  deliberation  on  their  own 
affairs.      Their    merchant-gild  over  its  ale-feast    regulated   trade, 
distributed    the    sums    due    from    the   town    among   the    different 
burgesses,  looked  to  the  due  repairs  of  gate  and  wall,  and  acted,  in 
fact,  pretty  much  the  same  part  as  a  town-council  of  to-day.     Not 
only,  too,  were  these  rights  secured  by  custom  from  the  firs"t,  but 
they  were  constantly  widening  as  time  went  on.     Whenever  we  get 
a  glimpse  of  the  inner  history  of  an  English  town,  we  find  the  same 
peaceful    revolution    in    progress,    services    disappearing    through 
disuse   or   omission,   while   privileges   and    immunities   are   being 
purchased  in  hard  cash.     The  lord  of  the  town,  whether  he  were 
king,  baron,  or  abbot,  was  commonly  thriftless  or  poor,  and  the 
capture  of  a  noble,  or  the  campaign  of  a  sovereign,  or  the  building 
of  some  new  minster  by  a  prior,  brought  about  an  appeal  to  the 
thrifty  burghers,  who  were  ready  to  fill  again  their  master's  treasury 
at  the  price  of  the  strip  of  parchment  which  gave  them  freedom  of 
trade,  of  justice,  and  of  government.     Sometimes  a  chance  story 
lights  up  for  us  this  work  of  emancipation.     At  Leicester  one  of 
the  chief  aims  of  its  burgesses  was  to  regain  their  old  English  trial 
by  compurgation,  the  rough  predecessor  of  trial  by  jury,  which  had 
been  abolished  by  the  Earls  in  favour  of  the  foreign  trial  by  battle. 
"  It  chanced,"  says  a   charter   of  the    place,   "  that  two  kinsmen, 
Nicholas  the  son  of  Aeon,  and  Geoffrey  the  son  of  Nicholas,  waged 
a  duel  about  a  certain  piece  of  land,  concerning  which  a  dispute 
had  arisen  between  them  ;  and  they  fought  from  the  first  to  the 
ninth  hour,  each  conquering  by  turns.     Then  one  of  them  fleeing 
from  the  other  till  he  came  to  a  certain  little  pit,  as  he  stood  on  the 
brink  of  the  pit,  and  was  about  to  fall  therein,  his  kinsman  said  to 
him  '  Take  care  of  the  pit,  turn  back  lest  thou  shouldest  fall  into 
it.'     Thereat  so  much   clamour  and  noise  was  made  by  the  by- 
standers and  those  who  were  sitting  around,  that  the  Earl  heard 
these  clamours  as  far  off  as  the  castle,  and  he  inquired  of  some  how 
it  was  there  was  such  a  clamour,  and  answer  was  made  to  him  that 
two  kinsmen  were  fighting  about  a  certain  piece  of  ground,  and 


372 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SKC.  IV 

THE 
ENGLISH 
TOWNS 


that  one  had  fled  till  he  reached  a  certain  little  pit,  and  that  as  he 
stood  over  the  pit  and  was  about  to  fall  into  it  the  other  warned 
him.  Then  the  townsmen  being  moved  with  pity  made  a  covenant 
with  the  Earl  that  they  should  give  him  threepence  yearly  for  each 
house  in  the  High  Street  that  had  a  gable,  on  condition  that  he 
should  grant  to  them  that  the  twenty-four  jurors  who  were  in 
Leicester  from  ancient  times  should  from  that  time  forward  discuss 
and  decide  all  pleas  they  might  have  among  themselves."  For  the 
most  part  the  liberties  of  our  towns  were  bought  in  this  way,  by 


TRIAL    BY    BATTLE. 
Assize  Roll,  temp.  Hen.  III.,  in  Public  Record  Office. 


The 
Frith- 
Gilds 


sheer  hard  bargaining.  The  earliest  English  charters,  save  that  of 
London,  date  from  the  years  when  the  treasury  of  Henry  the  First 
was  drained  by  his  Norman  wars  ;  and  grants  of  municipal  liberty 
made  professedly  by  the  Angevins  are  probably  the  result  of  their 
costly  employment  of  mercenary  troops.  At  the  close,  however, 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  this  struggle  for  emancipation  was  nearly 
over.  The  larger  towns  had  secured  the  administration  of  justice 
in  their  own  borough-courts,  the  privilege  of  self-government,  and 
the  control  of  their  own  trade,  and  their  liberties  and  charters 
served  as  models  and  incentives  to  the  smaller  communities  which 
were  struggling  into  life. 

During  the  progress  of  this  outer  revolution,  the  inner  life  of 
the  English  town  was  in  the  same  quiet  and  hardly  conscious  way 
developing  itself  from  the  common  form  of  the  life  around  it  into  a 


iv  THE    THREE    EDWARDS  373 

form  especially  its  own.     Within  as  without  the  ditch  or  stockade      SEC,  iv 
which  formed  the  earliest  boundary  of  the  borough,  land  was  from      _  THE 

'  ENGLISH 

the  first  the  test  of  freedom,  and  the  possession  of  land  was  what  TowNS 
constituted  the  townsman.  We  may  take,  perhaps,  a  foreign 
instance  to  illustrate  this  fundamental  point  in  our  municipal 
history.  When  Duke  Berthold  of  Zahringen  resolved  to  found 
Freiburg,  his  "  free  town,"  in  the  Brisgau,  the  mode  he  adopted  was 
to  gather  a  group  of  traders  together,  and  to  give  each  man  a 
plot  of  ground  for  his  freehold  round  what  was  destined  to  be  the 
market-place  of  the  new  community.  In  England  the  landless  man 
who  dwelled  in  a  borough  had  no  share  in  its  corporate  life  ;  for 
purposes  of  government  or  property  the  town  was  simply  an  as- 
sociation of  the  landed  proprietors  within  its  bounds  ;  nor  was  there 
anything  in  this  association,  as  it  originally  existed,  which  could 
be  considered  peculiar  or  exceptional.  The  constitution  of  the 
English  town,  however  different  its  form  may  have  afterwards 
become,  was  at  first  simply  that  of  the  people  at  large.  We  have 
seen  that  among  the  German  races  society  rested  on  the  basis  of 
the  family,  that  it  was  the  family  who  fought  and  settled  side  by 
side,  and  the  kinsfolk  who  were  bound  together  in  ties  of  mutual 
responsibility  to  each  other  and  to  the  law.  As  society  became 
more  complex  and  less  stationary  it  necessarily  outgrew  these 
simple  ties  of  blood,  and  in  England  this  dissolution  of  the  family 
bond  seems  to  have  taken  place  at  the  very  time  when  Danish 
incursions  and  the  growth  of  a  feudal  temper  among  the  nobles 
rendered  an  isolated  existence  most  perilous  for  the  freeman.  His 
only  resource  was  to  seek  protection  among  his  fellow-freemen,  and 
to  replace  the  older  brotherhood  of  the  kinsfolk  by  a  voluntary 
association  of  his  neighbours  for  the  same  purposes  of  order  and 
self-defence.  The  tendency  to  unite  in  such  '  frith-gilds  '  or  peace- 
clubs  became  general  throughout  Europe  during  the  ninth  and 
tenth  centuries,  but  on  the  Continent  it  was  roughly  met  and 
repressed.  The  successors  of  Charles  the  Great  enacted  penalties 
of  scourging,  nose-slitting,  and  banishment  against  voluntary  unions, 
and  even  a  league  of  the  poor  peasants  of  Gaul  against  the  inroads 
of  the  northmen  was  suppressed  by  the  swords  of  the  Frankish 
nobles.  In  England  the  attitude  of  the  Kings  was  utterly  different. 
The  system  known  at  a  later  time  as  '  frank-pledge,'  or  free 


374 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP.  IV 


SEC.  IV 

THE 

ENGLISH 
TOWNS 


The 

Merchant 
Gilds 


engagement  of  neighbour  for  neighbour,  was  accepted  after  the  Danish 
wars  as  the  base  of  social  order.  Alfred  recognized  the  common 
responsibility  of  the  members  of  the  '  frith-gild  '  side  by  side  with 
that  of  the  kinsfolk,  and  ^Lthelstan  accepted  '  frith-gilds '  as  a 
constituent  element  of  borough  life  in  the  Dooms  of  London. 

The  frith-gild,  then,  in  the  earlier  English  town,  was  precisely 
similar  to  the  frith-gilds  which  formed  the  basis  of  social  order  in 
the  country  at  large.  An  oath  of  mutual  fidelity  among  its  mem- 
bers was  substituted  for  the  tie  of  blood,  while  the  gild-feast,  held 
once  a  month  in  the  common  hall,  replaced  the  gathering  of  the 
kinsfolk  round  their  family  hearth.  But  within  this  new  family 
the  aim  of  the  frith-gild  was  to  establish  a  mutual  responsibility  as 
close  as  that  of  the  old.  "  Let  all  share  the  same  lot,"  ran  its  law  ; 
"  if  any  misdo,  let  all  bear  it."  A  member  could  look  for  aid  from 
his  gild-brothers  in  atoning  for  any  guilt  incurred  by  mishap.  He 
could  call  on  them  for  assistance  in  case  of  violence  or  wrong:  if 
falsely  accused,  they  appeared  in  court  as  his  compurgators  ;  if 
poor  they  supported,  and  when  dead  they  buried  him.  On  the 

other  hand,  he  was 
responsible  to  them, 
as  they  were  to  the 
State,  for  order  and 
obedience  to  the  laws. 
A  wrong  of  brother 
against  brother  was 
also  a  wrong  against 
the  general  body  of  the 
gild,  and  was  punished 
by  fine,  or  in  the  last 
resort  by  expulsion, 
which  left  the  offender 
a  '  lawless '  man  and  an 
outcast.  The  one  dif- 
ference between  these 
gilds  in  country  and 
town  was,  that  in  the 

latter  case,  from  their  close  local  neighbourhood,  they  tended  inevit- 
ably to  coalesce.  Under  ^thelstan  the  London  gilds  united  into 


SEAL    OF    EXETER,    C.     ll"JO. 

Giving  view  of  Guildhall. 
Collection  of  Society  of  Antiquaries. 


HALL  OF  s.  MARY'S  GILD,  LINCOLN  (FRONT). 


HALL    OF    S.    MARYS    GILD,    LINCOLN    (SIDE). 
Twelfth    Century. 


376 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  IV 

THE 

ENGLISH 
TOWNS 


one  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  more  effectually  their  common 
aims,  and  at  a  later  time  we  find  the  gilds  of  Berwick  enacting 
"  that  where  many  bodies  are  found  side  by  side  in  one  place  they 
may  become  one,  and  have  one  will,  and  in  the  dealings  of  one  with 
another  have  a  strong  and  hearty  love."  The  process  was  probably 
a  long  and  difficult  one,  for  the  brotherhoods  naturally  differed 
much  in  social  rank,  and  even  after  the  union  was  effected  we  see 
traces  of  the  separate  existence  to  a  certain  extent  of  some  one  or 
more  of  the  wealthier  or  more  aristocratic  gilds.  In  London,  for 
instance,  the  Cnihten-gild,  which  seems  to  have  stood  at  the  head 
of  its  fellows,  retained  for  a  long  time  its  separate  property,  while 
its  Alderman — as  the  chief  officer  of  each  gild  was  called — became 
the  Alderman  of  the  united  gild  of  the  whole  city.  In  Canterbury 
we  find  a  similar  gild  of  thegns,  from  which  the  chief  officeis  of  the 
town  seem  commonly  to  have  been  selected.  Imperfect,  however, 
as  the  union  might  be,  when  once  it  was  effected  the  town  passed 

from  a  mere  collection 
of  brotherhoods  into  a 
powerful  and  organized 
community,  whose  char- 
acter was  inevitably  de- 
termined by  the  circum- 
stances of  its  origin.  In 
their  beginnings  our 
boroughs  seem  to  have 
been  mainly  gatherings 
of  persons  engaged  in 
agricultural  pursuits  ;  the 
first  Dooms  of  London 
provide  especially  for  the 
recovery  of  cattle  belong- 
ing to  the  citizens.  But 
as  the  increasing  security 

of  the  country  invited  the  farmer  or  the  squire  to  settle  apart 
in  his  own  fields,  and  the  growth  of  estate  and  trade  told  on 
the  towns  themselves,  the  difference  between  town  and  country 
became  more  sharply  defined.  London,  of  course,  took  the  lead  in 
this  new  developement  of  civic  life.  Even  in  ^Ethelstan's  day  every 


SEAL   OF   GILD    MERCHANT,  GLOUCESTER,  C.    I2OO. 
Engraving  lent  by  Mr.  W.  H.  St.  John  Hope. 


IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


377 


London  merchant  who  had  made  three  long  voyages  on  his  own 
account  ranked  as  a  thegn.  Its  'lithsmen,'  or  shipmen's-gild,  were 
of  sufficient  importance  under  Harthacnut  to  figure  in  the  election 
of  a  king,  and  its  principal  street  still  tells  of  the  rapid  growth  of 
trade,  in  the  name  of  '  Cheap-side,'  or  the  bargaining  place.  But 
at  the  Norman  Conquest  the  commercial  tendency  had  become 
universal.  The  name  given  to  the  united  brotherhood  is  in  almost 
every  case  no  longer  that  of  the  '  town-gild,'  but  of  the  '  merchant- 
gild.' 

This  social  change  in  the  character  of  the  townsmen  produced 
important  results  in  the  character  of  their  municipal  institutions. 


SEC.  IV 

THE 
ENGLISH 
TOWNS 


The 
Craft 
Gilds 


A    BAKER    AT     HIS    OVEN-DOOR,    AND    A    BAKER    DRAWN   TO    THE    PILLORY 

WITH    A    SHORT-WEIGHT    LOAF    TIED    TO    HIS    NECK. 

Assisa  Panis,  21  Ed.  f.  (Corporation  of  London). 


In  becoming  a  merchant-gild  the  body  of  citizens  who  formed  the 
'  town  '  enlarged  their  powers  of  civic  legislation  by  applying  them 


378 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  IV 

THE 

ENGLISH 
TOWNS 


to  the  control  of  their  internal  trade.  It  became  their  special 
business  to  obtain  from  the  Crown,  or  from  their  lords,  wider 
commercial  privileges,  rights  of  coinage,  grants  of  fairs,  and  exemp- 
tion from  tolls  ;  while  within  the  town  itself  they  framed  regulations 


BAKERS    AND    COOKS,    A.  D.    1338 — 1344. 
MS.  Bodl.   Misc.  264. 


as  to  the  sale  and  quality  of  goods,  the  control  of  markets,  and  the 
recovery  of  debts.  A  yet  more  important  result  sprang  from  the 
increase  of  population  which  the  growth  of  wealth  and  industry 
brought  with  it.  The  mass  of  the  new  settlers,  composed  as  they 


<jjuclAx)U8  a  jjtwinte 


TAVERN,    A.D.     1338 — 1 344- 
MS.  Bodl.  Misc.  264. 


were  of  escaped  serfs,  of  traders  without  landed  holdings,  of  families 
who  had  lost  their  original  lot  in  the  borough,  and  generally  of  the 


JV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


379 


artisans  and  the  poor,  had  no  part  in  the  actual  life  of  the  town. 
The  right  of  trade  and  of  the  regulation  of  trade,  in  common  with 
all  other  forms  of  jurisdiction,  lay  wholly  in  the  hands  of  the  landed 
burghers  whom  we  have  described.  By  a  natural  process,  too,  their 


VINTNERS,    A.D.    1338 — 1344. 
MS.  Bodl.  Misc.  264. 


superiority  in  wealth  produced  a  fresh  division  between  the 
'  burghers '  of  the  merchant-gild  and  the  unenfranchised  mass 
around  them.  The  same  change  which  severed  at  Florence  the 
seven  Greater  Arts,  or  trades,  from  the  fourteen  Lesser  Arts,  and 
which  raised  the  three  occupations  of  banking,  the  manufacture 
and  the  dyeing  of  cloth,  to  a  position  of  superiority  even  within 


IRON    WORKERS,   A.D.    1338 — 1344. 
MS.  Bodl.  Misc.  264. 


SEC.  IV 

THE 
ENGLISH 
TOWNS 


the  privileged  circle  of  the  seven,  told,  though  with  less  force,  on 
the  English  boroughs.  The  burghers  of  the  merchant-gild  gradually 
concentrated  themselves  on  the  greater  operations  of  commerce,  on 
trades  which  required  a  larger  capital,  while  the  meaner  employ- 
ments of  general  traffic  were  abandoned  to  their  poorer  neighbours. 


38o 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  iv     This  advance  in  the  division  of  labour  is  marked  by  such  sever- 
THE        ances  as  we  note  in  the  thirteenth  century  of  the  cloth  merchant 

ENGLISH  » 

TOWNS      from  the  tailor,  or  the  leather  merchant  from  the  butcher.     But  the 
result  of  this  severance  was  all-important  in  its  influence  on  the 


ARMOURERS,    A.D.    1338 — 1344. 
MS.  Bodl.  Misc    264. 


constitution  of  our  towns.  The  members  of  the  trades  thus  aban- 
doned by  the  wealthier  burghers  formed  themselves  into  Craft- 
gilds,  which  soon  rose  into  dangerous  rivalry  with  the  original 
Merchant-gild  of  the  town.  A  seven  years'  apprenticeship  formed 
the  necessary  prelude  to  full  membership  of  any  trade-gild.  Their 
regulations  were  of  the  minutest  character  ;  the  quality  and  value 
of  work  was  rigidly  prescribed,  the  hours  of  toil  fixed  "  from  day- 
break to  curfew,"  and  strict  provision  made  against  competition  in 
labour.  At  each  meeting  of  these  gilds  their  members  gathered 


WEIGHING    AND    LADING,    A.D.    1338 — 1344- 
MS.  Bodl.  Misc.  264. 

round  the  Craft-box,  which  contained  the  rules  of  their  society,  and 
stood  with  bared  heads  as  it  was  opened.  The  warden  and  a 
quorum  of  gild-brothers  formed  a  court  which  enforced  the  ordin- 
ances of  the  gild,  inspected  all  work  done  by  its  members,  confis- 
cated unlawful  tools  or  unworthy  goods ;  and  disobedience  to  their 


IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


orders  was  punished  by  fines,  or  in  the  last  resort  by  expulsion 
which  involved  the  loss  of  right  to  trade.     A  common  fund  was 
raised  by  contributions  among  the  members,  which  not  only  pro- 
vided for  the  trade  objects  of  the  gild,  but  sufficed  to  found  chantries 
and  masses,  and  set  up   painted  windows  in  the  church  of  their 
patron  saint.     Even  at  the  present  day  the  arms  of  the  craft-gild 
may  often  be  seen  blazoned  in  cathedrals  side  by  side  with  those 
of  prelates  and  of  kings.     But  it  was  only  by  slow  degrees  that  they 
rose  to  such  a  height  as  this.     The  first  steps  in  their  existence 
were  the  most  difficult,  for  to  enable  a  trade-gild  to  carry  out  its 
objects  with  any  success,  it  was  first  necessary  that  the  whole  body 
of  craftsmen  belonging  to  the  trade  should  be  compelled  to  belong 
to  it,  and  secondly,  that  a  legal  control  over  the  trade  itself  should 
be  secured  to  it.    A  royal  charter    . 
was  indispensable  for  these  pur- 
poses, and    over    the    grant    of 
these    charters    took    place   the 
first  struggle  with  the  merchant- 
gild,  which  had   till  then   solely 
exercised  jurisdiction  over  trade 
within      the      boroughs.       The 
weavers,    who     were     the     first 
trade-gild  to  secure  royal  sanc- 
tion in  the  reign  of  Henry  the 
First,  were  still  engaged  in   the 
contest  for  existence  as  late  as 
the    reign    of   John,    when    the 
citizens  of    London  bought  for 
a  time  the  suppression  of  their 
gild.     Even  under  the  house  of 

o 

Lancaster,  Exeter  was  engaged 
resisting    the    establishment 


SEC.  IV 

THE 

ENGLISH 

TOWNS 


in 


WINDLASS. 

Early  Fourteenth  Century. 
MS.  Roy.  10  E.  tv. 

of    a    tailors'    gild.      From    the 

eleventh  century,  however,  the  spread  of  these  societies  went 
steadily  on,  and  the  control  of  trade  passed  from  the  merchant- 
gilds  to  the  craft-gilds. 

It  is  this  struggle,  to  use  the  technical  terms  of  the  time,  of  the 
"  greater  folk  "  against  the  "  lesser  folk,"  or  of  the  "  commune,"  the 


382 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  IV 

THE 
ENGLISH 
TOWNS 

The 
Greater 

and 
Lesser 

Folk 


1196 


general  mass  of  the  inhabitants,  against  the  "  prudhommes,"  or 
"  wiser  "  few,  which  brought  about,  as  it  passed  from  the  regulation 
of  trade  to  the  general  government  of  the  town,  the  great  civic 
revolution  of  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries.  On  the 
Continent,  and  especially  along  the  Rhine,  the  struggle  was  as 
fierce  as  the  supremacy  of  the  older  burghers  had  been  complete. 

In  Koln  the  craftsmen  had  been 
reduced  to  all  but  serfage,  and 
the  merchant  of  Brussels  might 
box  at  his  will  the  ears  of  "  the 
man  without  heart  or  honour  who 
lives  by  his  toil."  Such  social 
tyranny  of  class  over  class  brought 
a  century  of  bloodshed  to  the 
cities  pf  Germany ;  but  in  Eng- 
land the  tyranny  of  class  over 
class  had  been  restrained  by  the 
general  tenor  of  the  law,  and  the 
revolution  took  for  the  most  part 
a  milder  form.  The  longest  and 
bitterest  strife  of  all  was  naturally 
at  London.  Nowhere  had  the 

territorial  constitution  struck  root  so  deeply,  and  nowhere  had  the 
landed  oligarchy  risen  to  such  a  height  of  wealth  and  influence. 
The  city  was  divided  into  wards,  each  of  which  was  governed  by 
an  alderman  drawn  from  the  ruling  class.  In  some,  indeed,  the 
office  seems  to  have  become  hereditary.  The  "  magnates,"  or 
"  barons,"  of  the  merchant-gild  advised  alone  on  all  matters  of 
civic  government  or  trade  regulation,  and  distributed  or  assessed  at 
their  will  the  revenues  or  burthens  of  the  town.  Such  a  position 
afforded  an  opening  for  corruption  and  oppression  of  the  most 
galling  kind  ;  and  it  seems  to  have  been  the  general  impression  of 
the  unfair  assessment  levied  on  the  poor,  and  the  undue  burthens 
which  were  thrown  on  the  unenfranchised  classes,  which  provoked 
the  first  serious  discontent.  William  of  the  Long  Beard,  himself 
one  of  the  governing  body,  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  a  con- 
spiracy which  numbered,  in  the  terrified  fancy  of  the  burghers, 
fifty  thousand  of  the  craftsmen.  His  eloquence,  his  bold  defiance 


MONEY-BOX   OF   CORDWAINERS   OF 
OXFORD. 

A  rch&ological  Journal. 


iv  THE    THREE    EDWARDS  383 

of  the  aldermen  in  the  town-mote,  gained  him  at  any  rate  a  wide      SEC.  iv 
popularity,  and  the  crowds  who  surrounded  him  hailed  him  as  "the        THE 

ENGLISH 

saviour  of  the  poor."  One  of  his  addresses  is  luckily  preserved  to  TOWNS 
us  by  a  hearer  of  the  time.  In  mediaeval  fashion  he  began  with  a 
text  from  the  Vulgate,  "  Ye  shall  draw  water  with  joy  from  the 
fountain  of  the  Saviour."  "  I,"  he  began,  "  am  the  saviour  of  the 
poor.  Ye  poor  men  who  have  felt  the  weight  of  rich  men's  hands, 
draw  from  my  fountain  waters  of  wholesome  instruction  and  that 
with  joy,  for  the  time  of  your  visitation  is  at  hand.  For  I  will 
divide  the  waters  from  the  waters.  It  is  the  people  who  arc  the 
waters,  and  I  will  divide  the  lowly  and  faithful  folk  from  the  proud 
and  faithless  folk  ;  I  will  part  the  chosen  from  the  reprobate  as 
light  from  darkness."  But  it  was  in  vain  that  by  appeals  to  the 
King  he  strove  to  win  royal  favour  for  the  popular  cause.  The 
support  of  the  moneyed  classes  was  essential  to  Richard  in  the 
costly  wars  with  Philip  of  France,  and  the  Justiciar,  Archbishop 
Hubert,  after  a  moment  of  hesitation,  issued  orders  for  his  arrest. 
William  felled  with  an  axe  the  first  soldier  who  advanced  to  seize 
him,  and  taking  refuge  with  a  few  followers  in  the  tower  of  St. 
Mary-le-Bow,  summoned  his  adherents  to  rise.  Hubert,  however, 
who  had  already  flooded  the  city  with  troops,  with  bold  contempt 
of  the  right  of  sanctuary,  set  fire  to  the  tower  and  forced  William 
to  surrender.  A  burgher's  son,  whose  father  he  had  slain,  stabbed 
him  as  he  came  forth,  and  with  his  death  the  quarrel  slumbered  for 
more  than  fifty  years. 

No  further  movement,  in  fact,  took  place  till  the  outbreak  of  the  The  Con 
Barons'  war,  but  the  city  had  all  through  the  interval  been  seething 
with  discontent ;  the  unenfranchised  craftsmen,  under  pretext  of 
preserving  the  peace,  had  united  in  secret  frith-gilds  of  their  own, 
and  mobs  rose  from  time  to  time  to  sack  the  houses  of  foreigners 
and  the  wealthier  burghers.  But  it  was  not  till  the  civil  war  began 
that  the  open  contest  recommenced.  The  craftsmen  forced  their 
way  into  the  town-mote,  and  setting  aside  the  aldermen  and 
magnates,  chose  Thomas  Fitz-Thomas  for  their  mayor.  Although  I26i 
dissension  still  raged  during  the  reign  of  the  second  Edward,  we 
may  regard  this  election  as  marking  the  final  victory  of  the  craft- 
gilds.  Under  his  successor  all  contest  seems  to  have  ceased : 
charters  had  been  granted  to  every  trade,  their  ordinances  formally 


ENTRANCE    TO    CHOIR    OF    OLD    S.    PAUL'S. 


CHURCH    OF    S.    FAITH    UNDER    S.    PAUL'S. 
Engravings  by  \V.  Hollar,  1657. 


CHAP.  IV 


recognized  and  enrolled  in  the  mayor's  court,  and  distinctive 
liveries  assumed  to  which  they  owed  the 
name  of  "  Livery  Companies  "  which  they, 
still  retain.  The  wealthier  citizens,  who 
found  their  old  power  broken,  regained 
influence  by  enrolling  themselves  as  mem- 
bers of  the  trade-gilds,  and  Edward  the 
Third  himself  humoured  the  current  of 
civic  feeling  by  becoming  a  member  of 
the  gild  of  Armourers.  This  event  marks 
the  time  when  the  government  of  our 
towns  had  become  more  really  popular 
than  it  ever  again  became  till  the  Munici- 
pal Reform  Act  of  our  own  days.  It  had 
passed  from  the  hands  of  an  oligarchy 
into  those  of  the  middle  classes,  and  there 
was  nothing  as  yet  to  foretell  the  reac- 
tionary revolution  by  which  the  trade-gilds 
themselves  became  an  oligarchy  as  narrow  as  that  which  they 
had  deposed. 


WEST  FRONT  OF  S.  PAUL'S. 

Early  Fourteenth  Century. 

JfS.  Lambeth,  1106. 


SEC.  IV 

THE 
ENGLISH 
TOWNS 


Section  V. — The   King  and  the  Baronage,  1290 — 1327 

[Authorities. — For  Edward  I.  as  before.  For  Edward  II.  we  have  three 
important  contemporaries  :  on  the  King's  side,  Thomas  de  la  More  (in  Camden, 
"  Anglica,  Brittanica,  etc.")  ;  on  that  of  the  Barons,  Trokelowe's  Annals 
(published  by  the  Master  of  the  Rolls),  and  the  Life  by  a  monk  of  Malmesbury, 
printed  by  Hearne.  The  short  Chronicle  by  Murimuth  is  also  contemporary  in 
dite.  Hallam  ("  Middle  Ages")  has  illustrated  the  constitutional  aspect  of  the 
time.] 

If  we  turn  again  to  the  constitutional  history  of  England  from    England 
the  accession  of  Edward  the  First  we  find  a  progress  not  less  real    Edward  I 
but    chequered  with  darker  vicissitudes  than  the  progress  of  our 
towns.     A  great  transfer  of  power  had  been  brought  about  by  the 
long  struggle  for  the  Charter,  by  the  reforms  of  Earl  Simon,  and 
by  the  earlier  legislation  of  Edward  himself.     His  conception  of 
kingship  indeed  was  that  of  a  just  and  religious  Henry  the  Second, 
but  his  England  was  as  different  from  the  England  of  Henry  as 
VOL.  1—25 


386 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  v      the  Parliament  of  the  one  was  different  from  the  Great  Council  of 
THE~KING    the  other.     In  the  rough  rimes  of  Robert  of  Gloucester  we  read  the 
simple  political  creed  of  the  people  at  large. 


1290 

TO 

1327 


"  When  the  land  through  God's  grace  to  good  peace  was  brought 
For  to  have  the  old  laws  the  high  men  turned  their  thought  : 
For  to  have,  as  we  said  erst,  the  good  old  Law, 
The  King  made  his  charter  and  granted  it  with  sawe." 


OPENING    OF   THE   CONFESSOR'S   TOMB. 
JlfS.    Camb.    Univ.    Libr.   Ee.   Hi.    59.       c.   1245. 

l>ut  the  power  which  the  Charter  had  wrested  from  the  Crown 
fell  not  to  the  people  but  to  the  Baronage.  The  farmer  and  the 
artisan,  though  they  could  fight  in  some  great  crisis  for  freedom, 
had  as  yet  no  wish  to  interfere  in  the  common  task  of  government. 
The  vast  industrial  change  in  both  town  and  country,  which  had 
begun  during  the  reign  of  Henry  the  Third,  and  which  continued 
with  increasing  force  during  that  of  his  son,  absorbed  the  energy 


-3 

a  « 
s  5 

W      a 
' 


IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


387 


and  attention  of  the  trading  classes.     In  agriculture,  the  inclosure       SEC.  v 
of  common  lands  and  the  introduction  of  the  system  of  leases  on    THE  KING 

AND   THE 

the  part  of  the  great  proprietors,  coupled  with  the  subdivision  of    BARONAGE 

estates  which  was  facilitated  by  Edward's  legislation,  was  gradually         TO 

1327 
creating  out  of  the  masses  of  rural  bondsmen  a  new  class  of  tenant 

farmers,  who.;c  whole  energy  was  absorbed  in  their  own  great  rise 
to  social  freedom.  The  very  causes  which  rendered  the  growth  of 
municipal  liberty  so  difficult,  increased  the  wealth  of  the  towns. 
To  the  trade  with  Norway  and  the  Hanse  towns  of  North 
Germany,  the  wool  trade  with  Flanders,  and  the  wine  trade  with 


IRON    SCREEN    OX    TOMB    OF    ELEANOR    OF    CASTILE,    IN    WESTMINSTER    ABBEY. 
Wrought  by  Thomas  of   Leighton,  A.D.   1293. 

Gascony,  was  now  added  a  fast  increasing  commerce  with  Italy 
and  Spain.  The  great  Venetian  merchant  galleys  appeared  on  the 
English  coast,  Florentine  traders  settled  in  the  southern  ports,  the 
bankers  of  Florence  and  Lucca  followed  those  of  Cahors,  who  had 
already  dealt  a  death-blow  to  the  usury  of  the  Jews.  But  the 
wealth  and  industrial  energy  of  the  country  was  shown,  not  only  in 
the  rise  of  a  capitalist  class,  but  in  a  crowd  of  civil  and  ecclesiasti- 
cal buildings  which  distinguished  this  period.  Christian  architecture 
reached  its  highest  beauty  in  the  opening  of  Edward's  reign,  a 
period  marked  by  the  completion  of  the  abbey  church  of  West- 


333 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  v       minster    and    the    exquisite    cathedral    church    at    Salisbury.     An 
THE  KING    English  noble  was  proud  to  be  styled  "  an  incomparable  builder," 

AND   THE 

BARONAGE    \vhile    some    traces   of   the  art  which  was  rising  across   the  Alps 
1290 

perhaps  flowed  in  with  the  Italian  ecclesiastics  whom  the  Papacy 


1327 


The 


•Rule 


was  forcing  on  the  English  Church.  In  the  abbey  of  Westminster 
the  shrine  of  the  Confessor,  the  mosaic  pavement,  and  the  paintings 
on  the  walls  of  minster  and  chapter-house,  remind  us  of  the  schools 
which  were  springing  up  under  Giotto  and  the  Pisans. 


BRIDGE    OV"R     THE     ESK.     AT     DAN15Y     IN     CLEVELAND. 
Built  by  Neville,  Lord  Latimer.     llarly  Fourteenth  Century. 

But  even  had  this  industrial  distraction  been  wanting  the  trad- 
ing classes  had  no  mind  to  claim  any  direct  part  in  the  actual  work 
of  government.  It  was  a  work  which,  in  default  of  the  Crown,  fell 
naturally,  according  to  the  ideas  of  the  time,  to  the  Baronage. 
Constitutionally  the  position  of  the  English  nobles  had  now  be- 
come established.  A  King  could  no  longer  make  laws  or  levy 
taxes  or  even  make  war  without  thejr  assent.  And  in  the 
Baronage  the  nation  reposed  an  unwavering  trust.  The  nobles  of 
England  were  no  more  the  brutal  foreigners  from  whose  violence 


IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS  389 


the  strong  hand  of  a  Norman  ruler  had  been  needed  to  protect  his      SEC.  v 
subjects  ;  they  were  as  English  as  the  peasant  or  the  trader.     They    T"f  KING 

had  won  English  liberty  by  their  swords,  and  the  tradition  of  their    BARONAGE 

1290 

order  bound  them  to  look  on  themselves  as  its  natural  guardians.         TO 

1327 

At  the  close  of  the  Barons'  war,  the  problem  which  had  so  long 

troubled  the  realm,  the  problem  of  how  to  ensure  its  government  in 
accordance  with  the  Charter,  was  solved  by  the  transfer  of  the 
business  of  administration  into  the  hands  of  a  standing  committee 
of  the  greater  prelates  and  barons,  acting  as  chief  officers  of  state 
in  conjunction  with  specially  appointed  ministers  of  the  Crown. 
The  body  thus  composed  was  known  as  the  Continual  Council  > 
and  the  quiet  government  of  the  kingdom  by  the  Council  in  the 
long  interval  between  the  death  of  Henry  the  Third  and  his  son's 
return  shows  how  effective  this  rule  of  the  nobles  was.  It  is 
significant  of  the  new  relation  which  they  were  to  strive  to  estab- 
lish between  themselves  and  the  Crown  that  in  the  brief  which 
announced  Edward's  accession  the  Council  asserted  that  the  new 
monarch  mounted  his  throne  "  by  the  will  of  the  peers."  The  very 
form  indeed  of  the  new  Parliament,  in  which  the  barons  were 
backed  by  the  knights  of  the  shire,  elected  for  the  most  part  under 
their  influence,  and  by  the  representatives  of  the  towns,  still  true 
to  the  traditions  of  the  Barons'  war  ;  the  increased  frequency  of 
these  Parliamentary  assemblies  which  gave  opportunity  for  counsel, 
for  party  organization,  and  a  distinct  political  base  of  action  ; 
above  all,  the  new  financial  power  which  their  control  over  taxation 
enabled  them  to  exert  on  the  throne,  ultimately  placed  the  rule  of 
the  nobles  on  a  basis  too  strong  to  be  shaken  by  the  utmost  efforts 
of  even  Edward  himself.  and  the 

From  the  first  the  King  struggled  fruitlessly  against  this  over-  Barona&e 
powering  influence  ;  and  his  sympathies  must  have  been  stirred  by 
the  revolution  on  the  other  side  of  the  Channel,  where  the  French 
kings  were  crushing  the  power  of  the  feudal  baronage,  and  erecting 
a  royal  despotism  on  its  ruins.  Edward  watched  jealously  over 
the  ground  which  the  Crown  had  already  gained  against  the 
nobles.  Following  the  policy  of  Henry  II.,  at  the  very  outset  of 
his  reign  he  instituted  a  commission  of  enquiry  into  the  judicial 
franchises  still  existing,  and  on  its  report  itinerant  justices  were 
sent  to  discover  by  what  right  these  franchises  were  held.  The  1278 


39° 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  v      writs  of  "  quo  warranto  "  were  roughly  met  here  and   there.     Earl 
THE  KING    Warennc  bared  a  rusty  sword,  and  flung  it  on  the  justices'  table. 

AND   THE 

BARONAGE    «  fhis,  sirs,"  he  said,  "  is  my  warrant.     By  the  sword  our  fathers 
1290 
TO         won  their  lands  when  they  came  over  with  the  Conqueror,  and  by 

I  "^27 

the  sword  we  will  keep  them."  But  the  King  was  far  from  limiting 
himself  to  the  plans  of  Henry  II.  ;  he  aimed  further  at  neutraliz- 
ing the  power  of  the  nobles  by  raising  the  whole  body  of  land- 
owners to  the  same  level  ;  and  a  royal  writ  ordered  all  freeholders 
1278  who  held  land  of  the  value  of  twenty  pounds  to  receive  knighthood 
at  the  King's  hands.  While  the  political  influence  of  the  baronage 
as  a  leading  element  in  the  nation  mounted,  in  fact,  the  personal 
and  purely  feudal  power  of  each  individual  on  his  estates  as 


CART,  A.D.  1338 — 1344. 

MS.  Bodl.  Misc.  264. 

steadily  fell.  The  hold  which  the  Crown  had  gained  on  every  noble 
family  by  its  rights  of  wardship  and  marriage,  the  circuits  of  the 
royal  judges,  the  ever  narrowing  bounds  within  which  baronial 
justice  was  circumscribed,  the  blow  dealt  by  scutage  at  their 
military  power,  the  prompt  intervention  of  the  Council  in  their 
feuds,  lowered  the  nobles  more  and  more  to  the  level  of  their  fellow 
subjects.  Much  yet  remained  to  be  done.  Different  as  the  Eng- 
lish baronage,  taken  as  a  whole,  was  from  a  feudal  noblesse  like  that 
of  Germany  or  France,  there  is  in  every  military  class  a  natural 
drift  towards  violence  and  lawlessness,  which  even  the  stern  justice 
of  Edward  found  it  difficult  to  repress.  Throughout  his  reign 
his  strong  hand  was  needed  to  enforce  order  on  warring  nobles. 
Great  earls,  such  as  those  of  (Gloucester  and  Hereford,  carried  on 


IV 


T;iE    THREE    EDWARDS 


391 


private  war ;  in  Shrop  .hire  the  Earl  of  Arundel  waged  his  feud 
with  Fulk  Fitz  Warinc.  To  the  lesser  and  poorer  nobles  the  wealth 
of  the  trader,  the  long  wain  of  goods  as  it  passed  along  the  high- 
way, was  a  tempting  prey.  Once,  under  cover  of  a  mock  tourna- 
ment of  monks  against  canons,  a  band  of  country  gentlemen 
succeeded  in  introducing  themselves  into  the  great  merchant  fair 
at  Boston  ;  at  nightfall  every  booth  was  on  fire,  the  merchants 
robbed  and  slaughtered,  and  the  booty  carried  off  to  ships  which  lay 
ready  at  the  quay.  Streams  of  gold  and  silver,  ran  the  tale  of 
popular  horror,  flowed  melted  down  the  gutters  to  the  sea  ;  "  all  the 
money  in  England  could  hardly  make  good  the  loss."  Even  at 
the  close  of  Edward's  reign  lawless  bands  of  "  trail-bastons,"  or 


SEC.  V 

THE  KING 

AND  THE 

BARONAGE 

1290 

TO 
1327 


CART,  A.  D.  1338 — 1344. 
MS.  Bodl.  Misc.  264. 

club-rnen,  maintained  themselves  by  general  outrage,  aided  the 
country  nobles  in  their  feuds,  and  wrested  money  and  goods 
by  threats  from  the  great  tradesmen.  T,he  King  was  strong 
enough  to  fine  and  imprison  the  Earls,  to  hang  the  chief  of  the 
Boston  marauders,  and  to  suppress  the  outlaws  by  rigorous  com- 
missions. During  Edward's  absence  of  three  years  from  the  realm,  1286-1289 
the  judges,  who  were  themselves  drawn  from  the  lesser  baronage, 
were  charged  with  violence  and  corruption.  After  a  careful  inves- 
tigation the  judicial  abuses  were  recognized  and  amended  ;  two 
of  the  chief  justices  were  banished  from  the  country,  and  their 
colleagues  imprisoned  and  fined. 

The  next  year  saw  a  step  which  remains  the  great  blot   uoon    Edward 

and  the 
Edward's  reign.     Under  the   Angevins  the  popular  hatred  of  the       Jews 


392 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAT 


SEC.  V 
TrfE  KING 

AND  THE 

BARONAGE 
1290 

TO 

1327 


Jews  had  grown  rapidly  in  intensity.  But  the  royal  protection  had 
never  wavered.  Henry  the  Second  had  granted  them  the  right  of 
burial  outside  of  every  city  where  they  dwelt.  Richard  had 
punished  heavily  a  massacre  of  the  Jews  at  York,  and  organized  a 


SATIRE    ON    THE    JEWS    OF    NORWICH. 
Jews'   Roll,    17    Hen.    III.,   Public  Record  Office. 

mixed  court  of  Jews  and  Christians  for  the  registration  of  their 
contracts.  John  suffered  none  to  plunder  them  save  himself, 
though  he  once  wrested  from  them  a  sum  equal  to  a  year's  revenue 

of  his  realm.  The 
troubles  of  the 
next  reign  brought 
in  a  harvest  greater 
than  even  the  royal 
greed  could  reap; 
the  Jews  grew 
wealthy  enough  to 
acquire  estates,  and 
only  a  burst  of 
popular  feeling  pre- 
vented a  legal  de- 
cision which'  would 
have  enabled  them 

CHURCH     IN    LONDON     FOR    CONVERTED    JEWS.  tO      OWtt      freeholds. 

Built  by  Henry  III.     Drawn  by  Matthew  Paris. 

MS.  Roy.  i4  c.  vii.  Their     pride     and 

contempt    of    the 

superstitions  around  them  broke  out  in  the  taunts  they  levelled 
at  processions  as  they  passed  their  Jewries,  sometimes  as  at 
Oxford  in  actual  attacks  upon  them.  Wild  stories  floated  about 


IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


393 


u 


among  the  people  of  children  carried  off  to  Jewish  houses,  to  be 
circumcised  or  crucified,  and  a  boy  of  Lincoln  who  was  found 
slain  in  a  Jewish  house  was  canonized  by  popular  reverence  as 
"  St.  Hugh."  The  first  work  of  the  Friars  was  to  settle  in  the 
Hebrew  quarters  and  attempt  their  conversion,  but  the  tide  of 
popular  fury  rose  too  fast  for  these  gentler  means  of  recon- 
ciliation. When  the  Franciscans  saved  seventy  Jews  from  death 
by  their  prayers  to  Henry  the  Third  the  populace  angrily  refused 

the  brethren  alms.  The  sack  of  Jewry 
after  Jewry  was  the  sign  of  popular  hatred 
during  the  Barons'  war.  With  its  close, 
fell  on  the  Jews  the  more  terrible  perse- 
cution of  the  law.  Statute  after  statute 
hemmed  them  in.  They  were  forbidden 
to  hold  real  property,  to  employ  Christian 
servants,  to  move  through  the  streets 
without  the  two  white  tablets  of  wool 
on  their  breasts  which  distinguished  their 
race.  They  were  prohibited  from  build- 
ing new  synagogues,  or  eating  with 
Christians,  or  acting  as  physicians  to 
them.  Their  trade,  already  crippled  by 
the  rivalry  of  the  bankers  of  Cahors,  was 
annihilated  by  a  royal  order,  which  bade 
them  renounce  usury  under  pain  of  death. 
At  last  persecution  could  do  no  more, 

and  on  the  eve  of  his  struggle  with  Scotland,  Edward,  eager  at 
the  moment  to  find  supplies  for  his  treasury,  and  himself  swayed 
by  the  fanaticism  of  his  subjects,  bought  the  grant  of  a  fifteenth 
from  clergy  and  laity  by  consenting  to  drive  the  Jews  from  his 
realm.  Of  the  sixteen  thousand  who  preferred  exile  to  apostasy 
few  reached  the  shores  of  France.  Many  were  wrecked,  others 
robbed  and  flung  overboard.  One  shipmaster  turned  out  a  crew 
of  wealthy  merchants  on  to  a  sandbank,  and  bade  them  call  a 
new  Moses  to  save  them  from  the  sea.  From  the  time  of  Edward 
to  that  of  Cromwell  no  Jew  touched  English  ground. 

No  share  in  the  enormities  which  accompanied  the  expulsion 
of  the  Jews  can  fall   upon   Edward,  for  he  not  only  suffered  the 


AARON   OF   COLCHESTER. 

Forest   Roll,    Essex,    5   Ed.    I. 
Public  Record  Office. 


SEC.  V 


AND   THE 

BARONAGE 
1290 

TO 
1327 


I29O 


Edwar<* 

and  the 

Baronage 


394  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  v      fugitives  to  take  their  wealth  with  them,  but  punished  with  the 
HK  KING    halter  those  who  plundered  them  at  sea.     But  the  expulsion  was 

ND   TIIK 

BARONAGE  none  the  less  cruel,  and  the  grant  of  a  fifteenth  made  by  the  grate- 
ful Parliament  proved  but  a  poor  substitute  for  the  loss  which 
the  royal  treasury  had  sustained.  The  Scotch  war  more  than  ex- 
hausted the  aids  granted  by  the  Parliament.  The  treasury  was 
utterly  drained  ;  the  costly  fight  with  the  French  in  Gascony  called 
for  supplies,  while  the  King  was  planning  a  yet  costlier  attack  on 
northern  France  with  the  aid  of  Flanders.  It  was  sheer  want 
which  drove  Edward  to  tyrannous  extortion.  His  first  blow  fell 
1294  on  the  Church  ;  he  had  already  demanded  half  their  annual  income 
from  the  clergy,  and  so  terrible  was  his  wrath  at  their  resistance, 
that  the  Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  who  had  stood  forth  to  remonstrate, 
dropped  dead  of  sheer  terror  at  his  feet.  "If  any  oppose  the 
King's  demand,"  said  a  royal  envoy,  in  the  midst  of  the  Convoca- 
tion, "  let  him  stand  up  that  he  may  be  noted  as  an  enemy  to  the 
King's  peace."  The  outraged  churchmen  fell  back  on  an  unten- 
able plea  that  their  aid  was  due  solely  to  Rome,  and  pleaded  a  bull 
of  exemption,  issued  by  Pope  Boniface  VIII.,  as  a  ground  for  re- 
fusing to  comply  with  further  taxation.  Edward  met  their  refusal 
1297  by  a  general  outlawry  of  the  whole  order.  The  King's  courts 
were  closed,  and  all  justice  denied  to  those  who  refused  the  King 
aid.  By  their  actual  plea  the  clergy  had  put  themselves  formally 
in  the  wrong,  and  the  outlawry  soon  forced  them  to  submission, 
but  their  aid  did  little  to  recruit  the  exhausted  treasury,  while  the 
pressure  of  the  war  steadily  increased.  Far  wider  measures  of 
arbitrary  taxation  were  needful  to  equip  an  expedition  which 
Edward  prepared  to  lead  in  person  to  Flanders.  The  country 
gentlemen  were  compelled  to  take  up  knighthood,  or  to  compound 
for  exemption  from  the  burthensome  honour.  Forced  contribu- 
tions of  cattle  and  corn  were  demanded  from  the  counties,  and  the 
export  duty  on  wool — now  the  staple  produce  of  the  country — was 
raised  to  six  times  its  former  amount.  Though  he  infringed  no 
positive  charter  or  statute,  the  work  of  the  Great  Charter  and  the 
Barons'  war  seemed  suddenly  to  have  been  undone.  But  the  blow 
had  no  sooner  been  struck  than  Edward  found  himself  powerless 
within  his  realm.  The  baronage  roused  itself  to  resistance,  and  the 
1297  two  greatest  of  the  English  nobles,  Bohun,  Earl  of  Hereford,  and 


iv  THE    THREE    EDWARDS  395 

Bigod,  Earl  of  Norfolk,  placed  themselves  at  the  head  of  the  oppo-       SEC.  v 
sition.     Their  protest  against  the  war  and  the  financial  measures    THE  KING 

AND   THE 

by  which  it  was  carried  on,  took  the  practical  form  of  a  refusal  to    BARONAGE 

lead  a  force  to  Gascony  as  Edward's  lieutenants,  while  he  himself        TO 

1327 
sailed  for  Flanders.     They  availed  themselves  of  the  plea  that  they 

were  not  bound  to  foreign  service  save  in  attendance  on  the  King. 
"  By  God,  Sir  Earl,"  swore  the  King  to  Bigod,  "  you  shall  either 
go  or  hang  !  "  "  By  God,  Sir  King,"  was  the  cool  reply,  "  I  will 
neither  go  nor  hang !  "  Ere  the  Parliament  he  had  convened  could 
meet,  Edward  had  discovered  his  own  powerlessness,  and,  with  one 
of  those  sudden  revulsions  of  feeling  of  which  his  nature  was 
capable,  he  stood  before  his  people  in  Westminster  Hall  and 
owned,  with  a  burst  of  tears,  that  he  had  taken  their  substance 
without  due  warrant  of  law.  His  passionate  appeal  to  their  loyalty 
wrested  a  reluctant  assent  to  the  prosecution  of  the  war,  but  the 
crisis  had  taught  the  need  of  further  securities  against  the  royal 
power.  While  Edward  was  still  struggling  in  Flanders,  the 
Primate,  Winchelsey,  joined  the  two  Earls  and  the  citizens  of 
London  in  forbidding  any  further  levy  of  supplies  till  Edward  at  1297 
Ghent  solemnly  confirmed  the  Charter  with  the  new  clauses  added 
to  it  prohibiting  the  King  from  raising  taxes  save  by  general  con- 
sent of  the  realm.  At  the  demand  of  the  Barons  he  renewed  the 
Confirmation  in  1299,  when  his  attempt  to  add  an  evasive  clause 
saving  the  rights  of  the  Crown  proved  the  justice  of  their  distrust. 
Two  years  later  a  fresh  gathering  of  the  Barons  in  arms  wrested  ,30I 
from  him  the  full  execution  of  the  Charter  of  Forests.  The  bitter- 
ness of  his  humiliation  preyed  on  him  ;  he  evaded  his  pledge  to 
levy  no  new  taxes  on  merchandize  by  the  sale  to  merchants  of 
certain  privileges  of  trading;  and  a  formal  absolution  from  his 
promises  which  he  obtained  from  the  Pope  showed  his  intention  of  1305 
reopening  the  questions  he  had  yielded.  His  hand  was  stayed, 
however,  by  the  fatal  struggle  with  Scotland  which  revived  in  the  1307 
rising  of  Robert  Bruce,  and  the  King's  death  bequeathed  the 
contest  to  his  worthless  son. 

Worthless,  however,  as  Edward  the  Second  morally  might  be,  Edward 
he  was  far  from  being  destitute  of  the  intellectual  power  which  second 
seemed  hereditary  in  the  Plantagenets.  It  was  his  settled  purpose  1307-1327 
to  fling  off  the  yoke  of  the  baronage,  and  the  means  by  which  he 


396 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  v  designed  accomplishing  his  purpose  was  the  choice  of  a  minister 

THE  KING  wholly  dependent  on  the  Crown.     We  have   already  noticed  the 

AND   THE 

BARONAGE  change  by  which  the  "clerks  of  the  king's  chapel,"  who  had  been 

TO  the  ministers  of  arbitrary  government  under   the    Normans    and 
1327 


MUSICIANS  (CORNET  AND  VIRGINALS)  AND  AUDIENCE,  A.D.   1338 — 1344. 

MS.  Bodl.  Misc.  264. 


Angevins,  had  been  quietly  superseded  by  the  prelates  and  lords 
of  the  Continual  Council.  At  the  close  of  his  father's  reign,  a 
direct  demand  on  the  part  of  the  Barons  to  nominate  the  great 
officers  of  state  had  been  curtly  rejected  ;  but  the  royal  choice  had 

been  practically  limited  in 
the  selection  of  its  minis- 
ters to  the  class  of  prelates 
and  nobles,  and,  however 
closely  connected  with  roy- 
alty, such  officers  always 
to  a  great  extent  shared 
the  feelings  and  opinions 
of  their  order.  It  seems  to 
have  been  the  aim  of  the 
young  King  to  undo  the 
change  which  had  been 
silently  brought  about, 

and  to  imitate  the  policy  of  the  contemporary  sovereigns  of 
France  by  choosing  as  his  ministers  men  of  an  inferior  position, 
wholly  dependent  on  the  Crown  for  their  power,  and  repre- 
sentatives of  nothing  but  the  policy  and  interests  of  their  master. 


VIOLIN    AND    HARP,    A.D.    1338 — 1344- 
MS.  Bodl.  Misc.  264. 


IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


397 


Piers  Gaveston,  a  foreigner  sprung  from  a  family  of  Guienne,  had      SEC.  v 
been  his  friend   and    companion  during  his  father's  reign,  at  the    THE  KING 

close  of  which  he  had  been  banished  from  the  realm  for  his  share    BARONAGE 

1290 

in  intrigues  which  had  divided  Edward  from  his  son.     At  the  new        TO 

1327 


HORN     PLAYER,    A.D.     1338 — 1344-  LUTE    PLAYER,    A.D.     1338 — 1344. 

MS.  Bodl.  Misc.  264. 


King's  accession  he  was  at  once  recalled,  created  Earl  of  Cornwall, 
and  placed  at  the  head  of  the  administration.  Gay,  genial,  thrift- 
less, Gaveston  showed  in  his  first  acts  the  quickness  and  audacity 
of  Southern  Gaul  ;  the  older  ministers  were  dismissed,  all  claims  of 

precedence  or  inheritance  set 
aside  in  the  distribution  of 
offices  at  the  coronation, 
while  taunts  and  defiances 
goaded  the  proud  baronage 
to  fury.  The  favourite  was 
a  fine  soldier,  and  his  lance 
unhorsed  his  opponents  in 
tourney  after  tourney.  His 
reckless  wit  flung  nicknames 
about  the  Court  ;  the  Earl  of 
Lancaster  was  "the  Actor," 
Pembroke  "  the  Jew,"  War- 
wick "  the  Black  Dog."  Put 

taunt  and  defiance  broke  helplessly  against  the  iron  mass  of  the 
baronage.  After  a  few  months  of  power  the  demand  of  the 


DRUMMER,    A.D.    1338 — 1344. 
MS.  Bodl.  Misc.  264. 


ISO? 


1308 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


•SEC.  V 
THE  KING 

AND  THE 

BARONAGE 
1290 

TO 

1327 
1309 


The 
Lords 

Drdaineis 

13" 


BAGPIPER,    A.D.    1338—1344. 
MS.  Boitl.  Misc.  264. 


Parliament  for  his  dismissal  could  not  be  resisted,  and  he  was 
formally  banished  from  the  realm.  In  the  following  year  it  was 
only  by  conceding  the  rights  which  his  father  had  sought  to 
establish  of  imposing  import  duties  on  the  merchants  by  their  own 
assent,  that  Edward  procured  a  subsidy 
for  the  Scotch  war.  The  firmness  of  the 
baronage  sprang  from  their  having  found 
a  head  in  the  Earl  of  Lancaster,  son  of 
Edmund  Crouchback.  His  weight  proved 
irresistible.  When  Edward  at  the  close 
of  the  Parliament  recalled  Gaveston, 
Lancaster  withdrew  from  the  royal  Coun- 
cil, and  a  Parliament  which  met  in  1310 
resolved  that  the  affairs  of  the  realm 
should  be  entrusted  for  a  year  to  a  body 
of  twenty-one  "  Ordainers." 

A    formidable    list    of    "  Ordinances " 
drawn  up  by  the  twenty-one  met  Edward 

on  his  return  from  a  fruitless  warfare  with  the  Scots.  By  this 
long  and  important  statute  Gaveston  was  banished,  other  advisers, 
were  driven  from  the  Council,  and  the  Florentine  bankers  whose 
loans  had  enabled  Edward  to  hold  the  baronage  at  bay  sent 

out  of  the  realm.  The  customs 
duties  imposed  by  Edward  the 
First  were  declared  to  be  illegal. 
Parliaments  were  to  be  called 
every  year,  and  in  these  assemblies 
the  King's  servants  were  to  be 
brought,  if  need  were,  to  justice. 
The  great  officers  of  state  were 
to  be  appointed  with  the  counsel 
and  consent  of  the  baronage,  and 
to  be  sworn  in  Parliament.  The 
same  consent  of  the  Barons  in 
Parliament  was  to  be  needful  ere 
the  King  could  declare  war  or 

absent  himself   from  the  realm.     As   the    Ordinances    show,    the 
baronage  still  looked  on  Parliament  rather  as  a  political  organiza- 


DAV1D    PLAYING    ON    BELLS. 

Early  Fourteenth  Century. 

MS.  Roy.  2  B.  i<ii. 


IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


399 


tion  of  the  nobles  than  as  a  gathering  of  the  three  Estates  of  the      SEC,  v 
realm.     The  lower  clergy  pass  unnoticed  ;  the  Commons  are  re-    ^HNED^G 
garded  as   mere  tax-payers  whose  part  was  still  confined  to  the    BARONA<;E 
presentation  of  petitions  of  grievances  and  the  grant  of  money. 
Eut   even   in  this  imperfect  fashion    the   Parliament   was   a   real 


MORRIS-DANCE,    A.D.    1338 — 1344- 
MS.  Bod.  Misc.  264. 

representation  of  the  country,  and  Edward  was  forced  to  assent  to 
the  Ordinances  after  a  long  and  obstinate  struggle.  The  exile  of 
Gaveston  was  the  sign  of  the  Barons'  triumph ;  his  recall  a  few 
months  later  renewed  a  strife  which  was  only  ended  by  his  capture 
in  Scarborough.  The  "  Black  Dog  "  of  Warwick  had  sworn  that 


ttwrnt aut  *mamt  btatwv  4%$ fW^bctt8tw,Cwi)mt/  qut  en 


CHILDREN    CATCHING    BUTTERFLIES,   A.D.    1338 — 1344. 
MS.  Bodl.  Misc.  264. 

the    favourite   should    feel    his   teeth  ;   and    Gaveston,   who   flune 

o 

himself  in  vain  at  the  feet  of  the  Earl  of  Lancaster,  praying  for 
pity  "  from  his  gentle  lord,"  was  beheaded  in  defiance  of  the  terms 
of  his  capitulation  on  Blacklow  Hill.  The  King's  burst  of  grief 
was  as  fruitless  as  his  threats  of  vengeance  ;  a  feigned  submission 
of  the  conquerors  completed  the  royal  humiliation,  and  the  barons 


TO 
1327 


1312 


400 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


1290 

TO 
1327 


SEC.  v      knelt  before  Edward  in  Westminster  Hall    to    receive   a    pardon 
THE  KING    which  seemed  the  deathblow  of  the  royal  power.     But  if  Edward 

AND   THE 

BARONAGE  was  powerless  to  conquer  the  baronage  he  could  still,  by  evading 
the  observance  of  the  Ordinances,  throw  the  whole  realm  into 
confusion.  The  six  years  that  follow  Gaveston's  death  are  among 
the  darkest  in  our  history.  A  terrible  succession  of  famines  in- 
tensified the  suffering  which  sprang  from  the  utter  absence  of  all 
rule  during  the  dissension  between  the  Barons  and  the  King.  The 
overthrow  of  Bannockburn,  and  the  ravages  of  the  Scots  in  the 
North,  brought  shame  on  England  such  as  it  had  never  known. 
1318  At  last  the  capture  of  Berwick  by  Robert  Bruce  forced  Edward  to 


LADY    AND    YOUTH    PLAYING    DRAUGHTS. 

Early  Fourteenth  Century. 

MS.  Koy.  2  B.  viz. 


The  De- 
spensers 


give  way,  the  Ordinances  were  formally  accepted,  an  amnesty 
granted,  and  a  small  number  of  peers  belonging  to  the  Barons' 
party  added  to  the  great  officers  of  state. 

The  Earl  of  Lancaster,  by  the  union  of  the  four  earldoms  of 
Lincoln,  Leicester,  Derby,  and  Lancaster,  as  well  as  by  his  royal 
blood  (for  like  the  King  he  was  a  grandson  of  Henry  the  Third), 
stood  at  the  head  of  the  English  baronage,  and  the  issue  of  the 
long  struggle  with  Edward  raised  him  for  the  moment  to  supreme 
power  in  the  realm.  But  his  character  seems  to  have  fallen  far 
beneath  the  greatness  of  his  position.  Incapable  of  governing,  he 
could  do  little  but  regard  with  jealousy  the  new  advisers  on  whom 
the  King  now  leaned,  the  older  and  the  younger  Hugh  Le  De- 
spenser.  The  rise  of  the  younger,  on  whom  the  King  bestowed 


IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS  401 


the  county  of  Glamorgan  with  the  hand  of  its  heiress,  was  rapid       SEC.  v 
enough   to   excite   general    jealousy,    and    Lancaster    found   little    THK  KlNG 

J  *  '  AND   THE 

difficulty  in  extorting  by  force  of  arms  his  exile  from  the  kingdom.    BARONAGK 

1290 
But  the  tide  of  popular  sympathy,  already  wavering,  was  turned  to         TO 

the  royal  cause  by  an  insult  offered  to  the  Queen,  against  whom 

I  321 

Lady  Badlesmere  had  closed  the  doors  of  Ledes  Castle,  and  the 
unexpected  energy  shown  by  Edward  in  avenging  the  insult  gave 
fresh  strength  to  his  cause.  He  found  himself  strong  enough  to 
recall  Despenser,  and  when  Lancaster  convoked  the  baronage  to 
force  him  again  into  exile,  the  weakness  of  their  party  was  shown 
by  the  treasonable  negotiations  into  which  the  Earl  entered  with 
the  Scots,  and  by  his  precipitate  retreat  to  the  north  on  the  advance 
of  the  royal  army.  At  Boroughbridge  his  forces  were  arrested  and 
dispersed,  and  the  Earl  himself,  brought  captive  before  Edward  at  Fall  of 

Lancaster 

Pontefract,  was  tried  and  condemned  to  death  as  a  traitor.  "  Have  1322 
mercy  on  me,  King  of  Heaven,"  cried  Lancaster,  as  mounted  on  a 
grey  pony  without  a  bridle  he  was  hurried  to  execution,  "  for  my 
earthly  King  has  forsaken  me."  His  death  was  followed  by  that 
of  a  number  of  his  adherents  and  by  the  captivity  of  others  ;  while 
a  Parliament  at  York  annulled  the  proceedings  against  the 
Despensers,  and  repealed  the  Ordinances.  It  is  to  this  Parliament 
however,  and  perhaps  to  the  victorious  confidence  of  the  royalists, 
that  we  owe  the  famous  provision  which  reveals  the  policy  of  the 
Despensers,  the  provision  that  all  laws  concerning  "  the  estate  of 
the  Crown,  or  of  the  realm  and  people,  shall  be  treated,  accorded, 
and  established  in  Parliaments  by  our  Lord  the  King  and  by  the 
consent  of  the  prelates,  earls,  barons,  and  commonalty  of  the  realm, 
according  as  hath  been  hitherto  accustomed."  It  would  seem  from 
the  tenor  of  this  remarkable  enactment  that  much  of  the  sudden 
revulsion  of  popular  feeling  had  been  owing  to  the  assumption  of 
all  legislative  action  by  the  baronage  alone.  But  the  arrogance  of 
the  Despensers,  the  utter  failure  of  a  fresh  campaign  against 
Scotland,  and  the  humiliating  truce  for  thirteen  years  which 
Edward  was  forced  to  conclude  with  Robert  Bruce,  soon  robbed  1323 
the  Crown  of  its  temporary  popularity,  and  led  the  way  to  the 
sudden  catastrophe  which  closed  this  disastrous  reign.  It  had  been 
arranged  that  the  Queen,  a  sister  of  the  King  of  France,  should  re- 
visit her  home  to  conclude  a  treaty  between  the  two  countries 
VOL.  1—26 


402 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  v      whose  quarrel  was  again  verging  upon  war  ;  and  her  son,  a  boy  of 
THE  KING    twelve  years  old,  followed  her  to  do  homage  in  his  father's  stead 

AND  THE 

BARONAGE  for  the  duchies  of  Gascony  and  Aquitaine.  Neither  threats  nor 
prayers,  however,  could  induce  either  wife  or  child  to  return  to  his 
court  ;  and  the  Queen's  connexion  with  a  secret  conspiracy  of  the 
baronage  was  revealed  when  the  primate  and  nobles  hurried  to  her 
standard  on  her  landing  at  Orwell.  Deserted  by  all,  and  repulsed 
by  the  citizens  of  London  whose  aid  he  implored,  the  King  fled 
hastily  to  the  west  and  embarked  with  the  Despensers  for  Lundy 
Isle  ;  but  contrary  winds  flung  the  fugitives  again  on  the  Welsh 


1290 

TO 
1327 


1326 


1327 

Deposi- 
tion of 
Ed-ward 


BED    AND    CRADLE. 

Early   Fourteenth   Century. 

MS.  Roy.  2  B.  vii. 

coast,  where  they  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  new  Earl  of  Lancaster. 
The  younger  Despenser  was  at  once  hanged  on  a  gibbet  fifty  feet 
high,  and  the  King  placed  in  ward  at  Kenilworth  till  his  fate 
could  be  decided  by  a  Parliament  summoned  for  that  purpose  at 
Westminster.  The  Peers  who  assembled  fearlessly  revived  the 
constitutional  usage  of  the  earlier  English  freedom,  and  asserted 
their  right  to  depose  a  king  who  had  proved  himself  unworthy  to 
rule.  Not  a  voice  was  raised  in  Edward's  behalf,  and  only  four 
prelates  protested  when  the  young  Prince  was  proclaimed  King  by 
acclamation,  and  presented  as  their  sovereign  to  the  multitudes 


IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


403 


without.  The  revolution  soon  took  legal  form  in  a  bill  which 
charged  the  captive  monarch  with  indolence,  incapacity,  the  loss  of 
Scotland,  the  violation  of  his  coronation  oath,  and  oppression  of 
the  Church  and  baronage  ;  and  on  the  approval  of  this  it  was 
resolved  that  the  reign  of  Edward  of  Caernarvon  had  ceased  and 
that  the  crown  had  passed  to  his  son,  Edward  of  Windsor.  A 
deputation  of  the  Parliament  proceeded  to  Kenilworth  to  procure  the 
assent  of  the  discrowned  King  to  his  own  deposition,  and  Edward, 
"  clad  in  a  plain  black  gown,"  submitted  quietly  to  his  fate.  Sir 
William  Trussel  at  once  addressed  him  in  words  which  better  than 
any  other  mark  the  true  nature  of  the  step  which  the  Parliament 
had  taken.  "  I,  William  Trussel,  proctor  of  the  earls,  barons,  and 
others,  having  for  this  full  and  sufficient  power,  do  render  and  give 
back  to  you,  Edward,  once  King  of  England,  the  homage  and  fealty 
of  the  persons  named  in  my  procuracy  ;  and  acquit  and  discharge 
them  thereof  in  the  best  manner  that  law  and  custom  will  give. 
And  I  now  make  protestation  in  their  name  that  they  will  no 
longer  be  in  your  fealty  and  allegiance,  nor  claim  to  hold  anything 
of  you  as  king,  but  will  account  you  hereafter  as  a  private  person, 
without  any  manner  of  royal  dignity."  A  significant  act  followed 
these  emphatic  words.  Sir  Thomas  Blount,  the  steward  of  the 
household,  broke  his  staff  of  office,  a  ceremony  only  used  at  a 
king's  death,  and  declared  that  all  persons  engaged  in  the  royal 
service  were  discharged.  In  the  following  September  the  King 
was  murdered  in  Berkeley  Castle. 


SEC.  V 
THE  KING 

AND   THE 

BARONAGE 
1290 

TO 
1327 


CARVED    CHEST,    CHEVINGTON    CHURCH,    SUFFOLK. 

Temp.  Edward  II.  or  III. 
Gage,   "History  of  Suffolk." 


404 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  VI 

THE  SCOTCH 
WAR  OF 
INDEPEND- 
ENCE 

1306 

TO 
1342 


The 
Jcotc 
Revolt 


Section  VI. — The  Scotch  War  of  Independence,  1306—1342 

[Authorities. — Mainly  the  contemporary  English  Chroniclers  and  state 
documents  for  the  reigns  of  the  three  Edwards.  John  Barbour's  "  Bruce,"  the 
great  legendary  storehouse  for  his  hero's  adventures,  is  historically  worthless. 
Mr.  Burton's  is  throughout  the  best  modern  account  of  the  time.] 

To  obtain  a  clear  view  of  the  constitutional  struggle  between 
the  kings  and  the  baronage,  we  have  deferred  to  its  close  "an 
account  of  the  great  contest  which  raged  throughout  the  whole 
period  in  the  north. 

i3°5  With  the  Convocation  of  Perth  the  conquest  and  settlement 

of  Scotland  seemed  complete.  Edward  I.,  in  fact,  was  preparing 
for  a  joint  Parliament  of  the  two  nations  at  Carlisle,  when  the 
conquered  country  suddenly  sprang  again  to  arms  under  Robert 
Bruce,  the  grandson  of  one  of  the  original  claimants  of  the 
crown.  The  Norman  house  of  Bruce  formed  a  part  of  the 
Yorkshire  baronage,  but  it  had  acquired  through  intermarriages 
the  Earldom  of  Carrick  and  the  Lordship  of  Annandale.  Both 
the  claimant  and  his  son  had  been  pretty  steadily  on  the  English 
side  in  the  contest  with  Balliol  and  Wallace,  and  Robert  had 
himself  been  trained  in  the  English  court,  and  stood  high  in 
the  King's  favour.  But  the  withdrawal  of  Balliol  gave  a  new 
force  to  his  claims  upon  the  crown,  and  the  discovery  of  an 
intrigue  which  he  had  set  on  foot  with  the  Bishop  of  St. 
Andrews  so  roused  Edward's  jealousy  that  Bruce  fled  for  his 

1306  life  across  the  border.  In  the  church  of  the  Grey  Friars  at 
Dumfries  he  met  Comyn,  the  Lord  of  Badenoch,  to  whose 
treachery  he  attributed  the  disclosure  of  his  plans,  and  after 
the  interchange  of  a  few  hot  words  struck  him  with  his  dagger 
to  the  ground.  It  was  an  outrage  that  admitted  of  no  for- 
giveness, and  Bruce  for  very  safety  was  forced  to  assume  the 
crown  six  weeks  after  in  the  Abbey  of  Scone.  The  news  roused 
Scotland  again  to  arms,  and  summoned  Edward  to  a  fresh  contest 
with  his  unconquerable  foe.  But  the  murder  of  Comyn  had 
changed  the  King's  mood  to  a  terrible  pitilessness ;  he  threatened 
death  against  all  concerned  in  the  outrage,  and  exposed  the 


iv  THE    THREE    EDWARDS  405 

Countess  of  Buchan,  who  had   set  the   crown   on   Bruce's  head,  SEC.  vi 

in  a  cage  or  open  chamber  built  for  the  purpose  in  one  of  the  THE  SCOTCH 

towers   of  Berwick.     At   the   solemn    feast  which   celebrated  his 

son's    knighthood    Edward   vowed    on    the   swan,    which    formed 

the  chief  dish   at  the   banquet,  to   devote   the   rest  of  his  days  1342 


SEAL    OF    ROBERT    BRUCE,    KING    OF    SCOTS. 

to  exact  vengeance  from  the  murderer  himself.  But  even  at 
the  moment  of  the  vow,  Bruce  was  already  flying  for  his  life 
to  the  western  islands.  "  Henceforth,"  he  had  said  to  his  wife 
at  their  coronation,  "  thou  art  queen  of  Scotland  and  I  king." 
"  I  fear,"  replied  Mary  Bruce,  "  we  are  only  playing  at  royalty, 


TO 


4o6  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  vi      like   children  in   their  games."     The  play  was  soon   turned   into 
THE  SCOTCH  bitter  earnest.     A  small  English  force  under  Aymer  de  Valence 

WAR  OF  J 

INENCEKND    sufficed  to  rout  the  disorderly  levies  which  gathered    round    the 

i3°6       new  monarch,  and  the  flight  of  Bruce  left  his  followers  at  Edward's 

1342       mercy.     Noble  after  noble  was  hurried  to  the  block.     The  Earl 

of    Athole  pleaded   kindred  with  royalty;   "His  only  privilege," 

burst    forth   the   King,    "  shall    be   that   of    being    hanged    on    a 

higher  gallows  than  the  rest."     Knights  and  priests  were  strung 

up   side   by   side  by  the  English  justiciars ;    while  the  wife  and 

daughter  of  Robert  Bruce  were  flung  into  prison.     Bruce  himself 

had  offered  to  capitulate  to  Prince  Edward,   but  the  offer  only 

roused  the  old   king  to  fury.     "Who  is  so  bol-d,"  he  cried,  "  as 

1307       to   treat   with   our   traitors  without  our  knowledge  ? "   and   rising 

from  his  sick-bed  he  led  his  army  northwards  to  complete  the 

conquest.     But  the   hand    of  death   was    upon    him,    and    in   the 

very  sight  of    Scotland  the  old  man  breathed  his  last  at  Burgh- 

upon-Sands. 

Robert  The  death  of  Edward  arrested  only  for  a  moment  the  advance 

Bruce 

of  his  army  to  the  north.     The  Earl  of  Pembroke  led   it  across 

the  border,  and  found  himself  master  of  the  country  without 
a  blow.  Bruce's  career  became  that  of  a  desperate  adventurer, 
for  even  the  Highland  chiefs  in  whose  fastnesses  he  found  shelter 
were  bitterly  hostile  to  one  who  claimed  to  be  King  of  their 
foes  in  the  Lowlands.  It  was  this  adversity  that  transformed 
the  murderer  of  Comyn  into  the  noble  leader  of  a  nation's 
cause.  Strong  and  of  commanding  presence,  brave  and  genial 
in  temper,  Bruce  bore  the  hardships  of  his  career  with  a  courage 
and  hopefulness  which  never  failed.  In  the  legends  which 
clustered  round  his  name  we  see  him  listening  in  Highland 
glens  to  the  bay  of  the  bloodhounds  on  his  track,  or  holding 
single-handed  a  pass  against  a  crowd  of  savage  clansmen. 
Sometimes  the  little  band  which  clung  to  him  were  forced  to 
support  themselves  by  hunting  or  fishing,  sometimes  to  break 
up  for  safety  as  their  enemies  tracked  them  to  the  lair.  Bruce 
himself  had  more  than  once  to  fling  off  his  shirt  of  mail  and 
scramble  barefoot  for  very  life  up  the  crags.  Little  by  little. 
however,  the  dark  sky  cleared.  The  English  pressure  relaxed, 
as  the  struggle  between  Edward  and  his  barons  grew  fiercer. 


IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


407 


James    Douglas,   the   darling   of    Scotch   story,  was   the   first   of      SEC.  vi 
the  Lowland  barons  to  rally  again  to  the  Bruce,  and  his  daring  THE  SCOTCH 
gave   heart    to    the    King's    cause.     Once    he   surprised   his   own 
house,  which  had  been  given  to  an  Englishman,  ate  the  dinner 
which   had    been  prepared  for  its  new  owner,  slew  his  captives, 
and   tossed   their  bodies  on  to  a  pile  of  wood  gathered  at  the 
castle   gate.     Then    he   staved    in    the   wine-vats   that    the    wine 
might   mingle   with    their   blood,    and    set    house    and    woodpile 
on    fire.     A  terrible    ferocity  mingled  with  heroism  in  the  work 
of   freedom,   but   the   revival   of   the  country  went   steadily  on. 


1306 
1342 


STIRLING   CASTLE. 
Slezer,  "  Theatrum  Scotia"  1693. 


Bruce's  "  harrying  of  Buchan  "  after  the  defeat  of  its  Earl,  who 
had  joined  the  English  army,  at  last  fairly  turned  the  tide 
of  success.  Edinburgh,  Roxburgh,  Perth,  and  most  of  the  Scotch 
fortresses  fell  one  by  one  into  King  Robert's  hands.  The  clergy 
met  in  council  and  owned  him  as  their  lawful  lord.  Gradually  the 
Scotch  barons  who  still  held  to  the  English  cause  were  coerced 
into  submission,  and  Bruce  found  himself  strong,  enough  to  invest 
Stirling,  the  last  and  the  most  important  of  the  Scotch  fortresses 
which  held  out  for  Edward. 

Stirling   was    in  -fact   the    key   of    Scotland,   and    its   danger 
roused    England   out  of   its   civil   strife   to  a  vast  effort  for   the 


1313 


4o8  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  vi  recovery  of  its  prey.  Thirty  thousand  horsemen  formed  the 
THE  SCOTCH  fighting  part  of  the  great  army  which  followed  Edward  to 
INDEPEND-  fae  nOrth,  and  a  host  of  wild  marauders  had  been  summoned 

ENCE 

1306       from  Ireland  and  Wales  to  its  support.     The  army  which  Bruce 

TO 

1342  had  gathered  to  oppose  the  inroad  was  formed  almost  wholly 
Bannock  of  footmen,  and  was  stationed  to  the  south  of  Stirling  on  a 
/une^A,  rising  ground  flanked  by  a  little  brook,  the  Bannock  burn  which 
J3H  gave  its  name  to  the  engagement.  Again  two  systems  of 
warfare  were  brought  face  to  face  as  they  had  been  brought 
at  Falkirk,  for  Robert,  like  Wallace,  drew  up  his  force  in 
solid  squares  or  circles  of  spearmen.  The  English  were  dispirited 
at  the  very  outset  by  the  failure  of  an  attempt  to  relieve  Stirling, 
and  by  the  issue  of  a  single  combat  between  Bruce  and  Henry 
de  Bohun,  a  knight  who  bore  down  upon  him  as  he  was  riding 
peacefully  along  the  front  of  his  army.  Robert  was  mounted 
on  a  small  hackney  and  held  only  a  light  battle-axe  in  his 
hand,  but,  warding  off  his  opponent's  spear,  he  cleft  his  skull 
with  so  terrible  a  blow  that  the  handle  of  the  axe  was  shattered 
in  his  grasp.  At  the  opening  of  the  battle  the  English  archers 
were  thrown  forward  to  rake  the  Scottish  squares,  but  they  were 
without  support  and  were  easily  dispersed  by  a  handful  of 
horse  whom  Bruce  had  held  in  reserve  for  the  purpose.  The 
body  of  men-at-arms  next  flung  themselves  on  the  Scottish 
front,  but  their  charge  was  embarrassed  by  the  narrow  space 
along  which  the  line  was  forced  to  move,  and  the  steady  re- 
sistance of  the  squares  soon  threw  the  knighthood  into  disorder. 
"  The  horses  that  were  stickit,"  says  an  exulting  Scotch  writer, 
"rushed  and  reeled  right  rudely."  In  the  moment  of  failure 
the  sight  of  a  body  of  camp-followers,  whom  they  mistook 
for  reinforcements  to  the  enemy,  spread  panic  through  the 
English  host.  It  broke  in  a  headlong  rout.  Its  thousands 
of  brilliant  horsemen  were  soon  floundering  in  pits  which  had 
guarded  the  level  ground  to  Bruce's  left,  or  riding  in  wild  haste 
for  the  border.  Few  however  were  fortunate  enough  to  reach 
it.  Edward  himself,  with  a  body  of  five  hundred  knights, 
succeeded  in  escaping  to  Dunbar  and  the  sea.  But  the  flower 
of  his  knighthood  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  victors,  while  the 
Irishry  and  the  footmen  were  ruthlessly  cut  down  by  the  country 


IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


409 


folk    as   they  fled.     For  centuries   after,  the  rich  plunder  of  the      SEC,  vi 
English    camp    left    its    traces    on    the    treasure    and    vestment  THE  SCOTCH 

WAR  OF 

rolls  of  castle   and  abbey  throughout  the  Lowlands.  IN  ENCEEND" 

Terrible  as  was    the  blow   England  could  not  humble  herself       i3°6 

TO 

to    relinquish   her    claim    on    the    Scottish    crown.     With    equal       1342 
pertinacity   Bruce   refused    all   negotiation    while   the  royal   title     The  In- 

was    refused    to   him,   and    steadily   pushed    on    the    recovery    of  ence  Of 

his  southern  dominions.     Berwick  was  at  last  forced  to  surrender,  Scotland 


SIEGE    OF    CARLISLE    BY    THE    SCOTS,    A.D. 
Initial  letter  of  Edward  II. 's  charter  to  Carlisle,  1316. 
Arch&ological  Journal. 


and  held  against  a  desperate  attempt  at  its  recapture  ;  while 
barbarous  forays  of  the  borderers  under  Douglas  wasted  North- 
umberland. Again  the  strife  between  the  Crown  and  the 
baronage  was  suspended  to  allow  the  march  of  a  great  English 
army  to  the  north  ;  but  Bruce  declined  an  engagement  till  the 
wasted  Lowlands  starved  the  invaders  into  a  ruinous  retreat. 
The  failure  forced  England  to  stoop  to  a  truce  for  thirteen 
years,  in  the  negotiation  of  which  Bruce  was  suffered  to  take  the 


1318 


1319 


1323 


4io  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  vi  royal    title.     But   the   truce    ceased    legally    with    Edward's    de- 

HE  SCOTCH  position.     Troops    gathered    on  either    side,   and    Edward   Balliol, 

INDEPEND-  a    son    of    tf\c    former    king    John,    was    solemnly    received    as   a 

i3°6  vassal-king  of   Scotland  at  the  English    court.     Robert  was  dis- 

TO 

1342  abled  by  leprosy  from  taking  the  field  in  person,  but  the  insult 
roused  him  to  hurl  his  marauders  again  over  the  border  under 
Douglas  and  Randolph.  An  eye-witness  has  painted  for  us 
the  Scotch  army,  as  it  appeared  in  this  campaign :  "It  consisted 
of  four  thousand  men-at-arms,  knights  and  esquires,  well  mounted, 
besides  twenty  thousand  men  bold  and  hardy,  armed  after  the 
manner  of  their  country,  and  mounted  upon  little  hackneys 
that  are  never  tied  up  or  dressed,  but  turned  immediately  after 
the  day's  march  to  pasture  on  the  heath  or  in  the  fields.  .  .  . 
They  bring  no  carriages  with  them  on  account  of  the  mountains 
they  have  to  pass  in  Northumberland,  neither  do  they  carry 
with  them  any  provisions  of  bread  and  wine,  for  their  habits 
of  sobriety  are  such  in  time  of  war,  that  they  will  live  for  a 
long  time  on  flesh  half-sodden  without  bread,  and  drink  the 
river  water  without  wine.  They  have  therefore  no  occasion  for 
pots  or  pans,  for  they  dress  the  flesh  of  the  cattle  in  their  skins 
after  they  have  flayed  them,  and  being  sure  to  find  plenty  of 
them  in  the  country  which  they  invade,  they  carry  none  with 
them.  Under  the  flaps  of  his  saddle  each  man  carries  a  broad 
piece  of  metal,  behind  him  a  little  bag  of  oatmeal :  when  they 
have  eaten  too  much  of  the  sodden  flesh  and  their  stomach 
appears  weak  and  empty,  they  set  this  plate  over  the  fire, 
knead  the  meal  with  water,  and  when  the  plate  is  hot  put 
a  little  of  the  paste  upon  it  in  a  thin  cake  like  a  biscuit  which 
they  eat  to  warm  their  stomachs.  It  is  therefore  no  wonder 
that  they  perform  a  longer  day's  march  than  other  soldiers." 
Against  such  a  foe  the,  English  troops  who  marched  under 
their  boy-king  to  protect  the  border  were  utterly  helpless.  At 
one  time  the  army  lost  its  way  in  the  vast  border  waste  ;  at 
another  all  traces  of  the  enemy  had  disappeared,  and  an  offer 
of  knighthood  and  a  hundred  marks  was  made  to  any  who 
could  tell  where  the  Scots  were  encamped.  But  when  found 
their  position  behind  the  Wear  proved  unassailable,  and  after 
a  bold  sally  on  the  English  camp  Douglas  foiled  an  attempt 


IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


411 


at  intercepting  him  by  a  clever  retreat.  The  English  levies 
broke  hopelessly  up,  and  a  fresh  foray  on  Northumberland 
forced  the  English  court  to  submit  to  peace.  By  the  Treaty 
of  Northampton  the  independence  of  Scotland  was  formally 
recognized,  and  Bruce  acknowledged  as  its  king. 

The  pride  of  England,  however,  had  been  too  much  aroused  by 
the  struggle  to  bear  easily  its  defeat.  The  first  result  of  the  treaty 
was  the  overthrow  of  the  government  which  concluded  it,  a  result 


SEC.  VI 

THE  Scores 
WAR  OF 
INDEPEND-  . 

ENCE 
1306. 

TO 
1342 

Scotland 

and 

Edward 
the  Third 


WEST    DOOR    OF    ELGIN    CATHEDRAL, 
Early  Fourteenth  Century. 

hastened  by  the  pride  of  its  head,  Roger  Mortimer,  and  by  his 
exclusion  of  the  rest  of  the  nobles  from  all  share  in  the  administra- 
tion of  the  realm.  The  first  efforts  to  shake  Roger's  power  were 
unsuccessful  :  a  league  headed  by  the  Earl  of  Lancaster  broke  up 
without  result  ;  and  the  King's  uncle,  the  Earl  of  Kent,  was 
actually  brought  to  the  block,  before  the  young  King  himself  inter- 
fered in  the  struggle.  Entering  the  Council  chamber  in  Notting- 
ham Castle,  with  a  force  which  he  had  introduced  through  a  secret 
passage  in  the  rock  on  which  it  stands,  Edward  arrested  Mortimer 


133° 


4I2  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  vi     with  his  own  hands,  hurried  him  to  execution,  and  assumed  the 
THESCOTCH  control  of  affairs.     His  first  care  was  to  restore  good  order  through- 

WAR  OF 

INDEPEND-    out  the  country,  which  under  the  late  government  had  fallen  into 

ENCE 

1306       ruin,  and   to  free  his  hands  by  a  peace  with  France  for  further 

1342  enterprises  in  the  north.  Fortune,  indeed,  seemed  at  last  to  have 
veered  to  the  English  side  ;  the  death  of  Bruce  only  a  year  after  the 
Treaty  of  Northampton  left  the  Scottish  throne  to  a  child  of  but 
eight  years  old,  and  the  internal  difficulties  of  the  realm  broke  out 
in  civil  strife.  To  the  great  barons  on  either  side  the  border  the 
late  peace  involved  serious  losses,  for  many  of  the  Scotch  houses 
held  large  estates  in  England,  as  many  of  the  English  lords  held 
large  estates  in  Scotland  ;  and  although  the  treaty  had  provided 
for  their  claims,  they  had  in  each  case  been  practically  set  aside. 
It  is  this  discontent  of  the  barons  at  the  new  settlement  which  ex- 
plains the  sudden  success  of  Edward  Balliol  in  his  snatch  at  the 
Scottish  throne.  In  spite  of  King  Edward's  prohibition,  he  sailed 
from  England  at  the  head  of  a  body  of  nobles  who  claimed  estates 
in  the  north,  landed  on  the  shores  of  Fife,  and,  after  repulsing 
with  immense  loss  an  army  which  attacked  him  near  Perth,  was 

!332  crowned  at  Scone,  while  David  Bruce  fled  helplessly  to  France. 
Edward  had  given  no  open  aid  to  the  enterprise,  but  the  crisis 
tempted  his  ambition,  and  he  demanded  and  obtained  from  Balliol 
an  acknowledgement  of  the  English  suzerainty.  The  acknowledge- 
ment, however,  was  fatal  to  Balliol  himself.  He  was  at  once 
driven  from  his  realm,  and  Berwick,  which  he  had  agreed  to  sur- 
render to  Edward,  was  strongly  garrisoned  against  an  English 
attack.  The  town  was  soon  besieged,  but  a  Scotch  army  under 

1333  the  regent  Douglas,  brother  to  the  famous  Sir  James,  advanced  to 
its  relief,  and  attacked  a  covering  force,  which  was  encamped  on 
the  strong  position  of  Halidon  Hill.  The  English  bowmen,  how- 
ever, vindicated  the  fame  they  had  first  won  at  Falkirk,  and  were 
soon  to  crown  in  the  victory  of  Crecy ;  and  the  Scotch  only 
struggled  through  the  marsh  which  covered  the  English  front  to 
be  riddled  with  a  storm  of  arrows,  and  to  break  in  utter  rout.  The 
battle  decided  the  fate  of  Berwick,  and  from  that  time  the  town 
remained  the  one  part  of  Edward's  conquests  which  was  preserved 
by  the  English  crown.  Fragment  as  it  was,  it  was  always  viewed 
legally  as  representing  the  realm  of  which  it  had  once  formed  a 


IV 


THE    THREE    EDWARDS 


part.  As  Scotland,  it  had  its  chancellor,  chamberlain,  and  other 
officers  of  State  ;  and  the  peculiar  heading  of  Acts  of  Parliament 
enacted  for  England  "  and  the  town  of  Berwick-upon-Tweed  "  still 
preserves  the  mem«y  of  its  peculiar  position.  Balliol  was  restored 
to  his  throne  by  the  conquerors,  and  his  formal  cession  of  the 
Lowlands  to  England  rewarded  their  aid.  During  the  next  three 
years  Edward  persisted  in  the  line  of  policy  he  had  adopted,  re- 
taining his  hold  over  Southern  Scotland,  and  aiding  his  sub-king 
Balliol  in  campaign  after  campaign  against  the  despairing  efforts 
of  the  nobles  who  still  adhered  to  the  house  of  Bruce.  His 


SEC.  vi 

T^ASRC00TFCH 
INDEENPCEEND" 


1342 


BERWICK-UPON-TWEED. 
AfterJ.  M.  W.  Turner. 


perseverance  was  all  but  crowned  with  success,  when  the  outbreak 
of  war  with  France  saved  Scotland  by  drawing  the  strength  of 
England  across  the  Channel.  The  patriot  party  drew  again  to- 
gether. Balliol  found  himself  at  last  without  an  adherent  and 
withdrew  to  the  Court  of  Edward,  while  David  returned  to  his 
kingdom,  and  won  back  the  chief  fastnesses  of  the  Lowlands. 
The  freedom  of  Scotland  was,  in  fact,  secured.  From  a  war  of 
conquest  and  patriotic  resistance  the  struggle  died  into  a  petty 
strife  between  two  angry  neighbours,  which  became  a  mere  episode 
in  the  larger  contest  between  England  and  France. 


1337 


1339 


1342 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  HUNDRED    YEARS'    WAR 

1336—1431 
Section  I. — Edward  the  Third,  1336 — 1360 

[Authorities. — The  concluding  part  of  the  chronicle  of  Walter  of  Hemin- 
burgh  or  Hemingford  seems  to  have  been  jotted  down  as  news  of  the  passing 
events  reached  its  author  ;  it  ends  at  the  battle  of  Cre"cy.  Hearne  has  pub- 
lished another  contemporary  account  by  Robert  of  Avesbury,  which  closes  in 
1356.  A  third  account  by  Knyghton,  a  canon  of  Leicester,  will  be  found  in 
the  collection  of  Twysden.  At  the  end  of  this  century  and  the  beginning  of  the 
next  the  annals  that  had  been  carried  on  in  the  Abbey  of  St.  Albans  were 
thrown  together  by  Walsingham  in  the  "  Historia  Anglicana"  which  bears  his 
name,  a  compilation  whose  history  is  given  in  the  prefaces  to  the  "  Chronica 
Monasterii  S.  Albani"  (Rolls  Series).  Rymer's  "Fcedera"  is  rich  in  documents 
for  this  period,  and  from  this  time  we  have  a  storehouse  of  political  and  social 
information  in  the  Parliamentary  Rolls.  For  the  French  war  itself  our  primary 
authority  is  the  Chronicle  of  Jehan  le  Bel,  a  canon  of  S.  Lambert  of  Lie"ge,  who 
had  himself  served  in  Edward's  campaign  against  the  Scots,  and  spent  the  rest 
of  his  life  at  the  court  of  John  of  Hainau.lt.  Up  to  the  Treaty  of  Bretigny, 
where  it  closes,  Froissart  has  done  little  more  than  copy  this  work,  making 
however  large  additions  from  his  own  inquiries,  especially  in  the  Flemish  and 
Breton  campaigns  and  the  account  of  Cre'cy.,  A.Hainaulter  of  Valenciennes, 
Froissart  held  a  post  in'  Queen  Philippa's  household  from  1361  to  1369  ;  and 
under  this  influence  produced  in  1373  the  first  edition  of  his  well-known 
Chronicle.  A  later  edition  is  far  less  English  in  tone,  and  a  third  version, 
begun  by  him  in  his  old  age  after  long  absence  from  England,  is  distinctly 
French  in  its  sympathies.  Froissart's  vivacity  and  picturesqueness  blind  us  to 
the  inaccuracy  of  his  details;  as  an  historical  authority  he  is  of  little  value. 
The  incidental  mention  of  Cre"cy  and  the  later  English  expeditions  by  Villani 
in  his  great  Florentine  Chronicle  are  important.  The  best  modern  account  of 
this  period  is  that  by  Mr.  W.  Longman,  "History  of  Edward  III."  Mr. 
Morley  ("  English  Writers  ")  has  treated  in  great  detail  of  Chaucer.] 

[Dr.  Stubbs'  "  Constitutional  History"  (vol.  ii.),  published  since  this  chapter 
was  written,  deals  with  the  whole  period. — Ed.~\ 

England          IN  tnc  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century  the  great  movement 

under      towards  national  unity  which  had  begun  under  the  last  of  the  Nor- 
Edward 

HI.       man  Kings  seemed  to  have  reached  its  end,  and  the  perfect  fusion 


h  qunpiluanfrutcnittfc iwh (nor 


CORONATION   OF   A   KING 
MS.  Corpus  Christ!  College.  Cambridge  xx.  early  fourteenth  century 


CHAP.  V 


THE    HUNDRED    YEARS'    WAR 


of  conquered  and  conquerors  into  an  English  people  was  marked 
by  the  disuse,  even  amongst  the  nobler  classes,  of  the  French 
tongue.  In  spite  of  the  efforts  of  the  grammar  schools,  and  of  the 
strength  of  fashion,  English  was  winning  its  way  throughout  the 
reign  of  Edward  the  Third  to  its  final  triumph  in  that  of  his  grand- 
son. "  Children  in  school,"  says  a  writer  of  the  earlier  reign, "  against 
the  usage  and  manner  of  all  other  nations,  be  compelled  for  to 
leave  their  own  language,  and  for  to  construe  their  lessons  and 
their  things  in  French,  and  so  they  have  since  Normans  first  came 
into  England.  Also  gentlemen's  children  be  taught  to  speak 
French  from  the  time  that  they  be  rocked  in  their  cradle,  and 


SEC.  I 

EDWARD 
THE  THIRP 

1336 

TO 
1360 


SCHOOL,    A.D.    1338 — 1344. 
MS.  Bodl.  Misc.  264. 


know  how  to  speak  and  play  with  a  child's  toy  ;  and  uplandish  (or 
country)  men  will  liken  themselves  to  gentlemen,  and  strive  with 
great  busyness  to  speak  French  for  to  be  more  told  of."  "  This 
manner,"  adds  a  translator  of  Richard's  time,  "was  much  used 
before  the  first  murrain  (the  plague  of  1 349),  and  is  since  somewhat 
changed  ;  for  John  Cornwal,  a  master  of  grammar,  changed  the 
lore  in  grammar  school  and  construing  of  French  into  English  ; 
and  Richard  Pcncrych  learned  this  manner  of  teaching  of  him,  as 
others  did  of  Pencrych.  So  that  now,  the  year  of  our  Lord,  1385, 
and  of  the  second  King  Richard  after  the  Conquest  nine,  in  all 
the  grammar  schools  of  England  children  leaveth  French,  and  con- 
strueth  and  Icarneth  in  English."  A  more  formal  note  of  the 
change  is  found  when  English  was  ordered  to  be  used  in  courts  of 
law  in  1 362  "  because  the  French  tongue  is  much  unknown  ; "  and 


416 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  I 

EDWARD     ing  Parliament. 

THE  THIRD 
1336 

TO 
1360 


in  the  following  year  it  was  employed  by  the  Chancellor  in  open- 
Bishops began  to  preach  in  English,  and  the 
English  tracts  of  Wyclif  made  it  once  more  a  literary  tongue. 
This  drift  towards  a  general  use  of  the  national  tongue  told  power- 
fully on  literature.  The  influence  of  the  French  romances  every- 
where tended  to  make  French  the  one  literary  language  at  the 
opening  of  the  fourteenth  century,  arid  in  England  this  influence 
had  been  backed  by  the  French  tone  of  the  court  of  Henry  the 
Third  and  the  three  Edwards.  But  at  the  close  of  the  reign  of 


CHAPEL    ON    WAKEFIELD    BRIDGE. 

Early  Fourteenth  Century. 

Arch&ological  Journal. 


Edward  the  Third  the  long  French  romances  needed  to  be  trans- 
lated even  for  knightly  hearers.  "  Let  clerks  indite  in  Latin," 
says  the  author  of  the  "  Testament  of  Love,"  "  and  let  Frenchmen 
in  their  French  also  indite  their  quaint  terms,  for  it  is  'kindly  to 
their  mouths  ;  and  let  us  show  our  fantasies  in  such  wordes  as 
we  learned  of  our  mother's  tongue."  But  the  new  national  life 
afforded  nobler  material  than  "  fantasies  "  now  for  English  litera- 
ture. With  the  completion  of  the  work  of  national  unity  had  come 
the  completion  of  the  work  of  national  freedom.  Under  the  first 
Edward  the  Parliament  had  vindicated  its  right  to  the  control  of 


THE    HUNDRED    YEARS'    WAR 


417 


taxation,  under  the  second  it  had  advanced   from  the  removal  cf      SEC.  i 
ministers  to  the  deposition  of  a  King,  under  the  third  it  gave  its     EDWARD 

THE  THIRD 

voice    on    questions   of  peace    and    war,    controlled    expenditure,        1336 

TO 

and  regulated   the  course  of  civil  1360 

administration.  The  vigour  of 
English  life  showed  itself  socially 
in  the  wide  extension  of  com- 
merce, in  the  rapid  growth  of  the 
woollen  trade,  and  the  increase  of 
manufactures  after  the  settlement 
of  Flemish  weavers  on  the  eastern 
coast ;  in  the  progress  of  the 
towns,  fresh  as  they  were  from 
the  victory  of  the  craft-gilds  ;  and 
in  the  developement  of  agricul- 
ture through  the  division  of  lands, 
and  the  rise  of  the  tenant  far- 
mer and  the  freeholder.  It  gave 
nobler  signs  of  its  activity  in  the 
spirit  of  national  independence 
and  moral  earnestness  which 
awoke  at  the  call  of  Wyclif. 
New  forces  of  thought  and  feel- 
ing, which  were  destined  to  tell 
on  every  age  of  our  later  history, 
broke  their  way  through  the  crust 
of  feudalism  in  the  socialist  re- 
volt of  the  Lollards,  and  a  sudden 
burst  of  military  glory  threw  its  glamour  over  the  age  of  Crccy 
and  Poitiers. 

It  is  this  new  gladness  of  a  great  people  which  utters  it-  Chaucer 
self  in  the  verse  of  Geoffrey  Chaucer.  Chaucer  was  born  about 
1 340,  the  son  of  a  London  vintner  who  lived  in  Thames  Street ; 
and  it  was  in  London  that  the  bulk  of  his  life  was  spent.  His 
family,  though  not  noble,  seems  to  have  been  of  some  importance, 
for  from  the  opening  of  his  career  we  find  Chaucer  in  close  con- 
nexion with  the  Court.  At  sixteen  he  was  made  page  to  the  wife 
of  Lionel  of  Clarence  ;  at  nineteen  he  first  bore  arms  in  the 
VOL.  1—27 


WINCHESTER     MARKET     CROSS. 
Built  temp.  Edward  III. 


f 


o 

X,    C 


<l 


S  in 


THE    HUNDRED    YEARS'    WAR 


419 


campaign  of  1359.  But  he  was  luckless  enough  to  be  made 
prisoner  ;  and  from  the  time  of  his  release  after  the  treaty  of 
Bretigny  he  took  no  further  share  in  the  military  enterprises 
of  his  time.  He  seems  again  to  have  returned  to  service 
about  the  Court,  and  it  was  now  that  his  first  poems  made 
their  appearance,  and  from  this  time  John  of  Gaunt  may  be 
looked  upon  as  his  patron.  He  was  employed  in  seven  diplomatic 
missions  which  were  probably  connected  with  the  financial  straits 

of  the  Crown,  and  three  of  these, 
in  13/2,  1374,  and  1378,  carried 
him  to  Italy.  He  visited  Genoa 
and  the  brilliant  court  of  the  Vis- 
conti  at  Milan  ;  at  Florence,  where 
the  memory  of  Dante,  the  "  great 
master"  whom  he  commemorates 
so  reverently  in  his  verse,  was 
still  living,  he  may  have  met  Boc- 
caccio ;  at  Padua,  like  his  own 
clerk  of  Oxenford,  he  possibly 
caught  the  story  of  Griseldis  from 
the  lips  of  Petrarca.  He  was  a 
busy,  practical  worker ;  Comp- 
troller of  the  Customs  in  1374,  of 
the  Petty  Customs  in  1382,  a 
member  of  the  Commons  in  the 
Parliament  of  1386,  and  from 
1389  to  1391  Clerk  of  the  Royal 
Works,  busy  with  building  at 

Westminster,  Windsor,  and  the  Tower.  A  single  portrait  has 
preserved  for  us  his  forked  beard,  his  dark-coloured  dress,  the 
knife  and  pen-case  at  his  girdle,  and  we  may  supplement  this 
portrait  by  a  few  vivid  touches  of  his  own.  The  sly,  elvish  face, 
the  quick  walk,  the  plump  figure  and  portly  waist  were  those  of 
a  genial  and  humorous  man  ;  but  men  jested  at  his  silence,  his 
love  of  study.  "  Thou  lookest  as  thou  wouldest  find  an  hare," 
laughs  the  Host,  in  the  "  Canterbury  Tales,"  "  and  ever  on  the 
ground  I  see  thee  stare."  He  heard  little  of  his  neighbours'  talk 
when  office  work  was  over.  "  Thou  goest  home  to  thy  own  house 


CHAUCER. 
MS.   Harl.  486 


SEC.  I 

EDWARD 
THE  THIRD 

1336 

TO 
1360 


420 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  I 

EDWARD 
THE  THIRD 

1336 

TO 
1360 


anon,  and  also  dumb  as  any  stone  thou  sittest  at  another  book 
till  fully  dazed  is  thy  look,  and  livest  thus  as  an  heremite, 
although,"  he  adds  slyly,  "  thy  abstinence  is  lite  "  (little).  But  of 
this  abstraction  from  his  fellows  there  is  no  trace  in  his  verse.  No 
poetry  was  ever  more  human  than  Chaucer's  ;  none  ever  came 


CHAUCER. 
Ellesmere  HfS.  of  Canterbury  Tales. 


more  frankly  and  genially  home  to  its  readers.  The  first  note  of 
his  song  is  a  note  of  freshness  and  gladness.  "  Of  ditties  and  of 
songes  glad,  the  which  he  for  my  sake  made,  the  land  fulfilled  is 
over  all,"  Gower  makes  Love  say  in  his  lifetime  ;  and  the  impres- 
sion of  gladness  remains  just  as  fresh  now  that  four  hundred  years 
have  passed  away.  The  historical  character  of  Chaucer's  work 
lies  on  its  surface.  It  stands  out  in  vivid  contrast  with  the  poetic 


v  THE    HUNDRED    YEARS'    WAR  421 

literature  from   the  heart  of  which  it  sprang.     The  long  French       SEC.  i 
romances  were  the  product  of   an    age  of   wealth   and   ease,   of     EDWARD 

THE  THIRI 

indolent  curiosity,  of  a  fanciful  and  self-indulgent  sentiment.       Of       1336 

TO 

the  great  passions  which  gave  life  to  the  Middle  Ages,  that  of  1360 
religious  enthusiasm  had  degenerated  into  the  pretty  conceits  of 
Mariolatry,  that  of  war  into  the  extravagances  of  Chivalry. 
Love,  indeed,  remained  ;  it  was  the  one  theme  of  troubadour 
and  trouvere,  but  it  was  a  love  of  refinement,  of  romantic  follies, 
of  scholastic  discussions,  of  sensuous  enjoyment — a  plaything 
rather  than  a  passion.  Nature  had  to  reflect  the  pleasant  indolence 
of  man  ;  the  song  of  the  minstrel  moved  through  a  perpetual . 
May-time  ;  the  grass  was  ever  green  ;  the  music  of  the  lark  and 
the  nightingale  rang  out  from  field  and  thicket.  There  was  a  gay 
avoidance  of  all  that  is  serious,  moral,  or  reflective  in  man's  life  : 
life  was  too  amusing  to  be  serious,  too  piquant,  too  sentimental,  too 
full  of  interest  and  gaiety  and  chat.  It  was  an  age  of  talk : 
"  mirth  is  none,"  says  the  Host,  "  to  ride  on  by  the  way  dumb  as  a 
stone  ; "  and  the  trouvere  aimed  simply  at  being  the  most  agreeable 
talker  of  his  day.  His  romances,  his  rimes  of  Sir  Tristram,  his 
Romance  of  the  Rose,  are  full  of  colour  and  fantasy,  endless  in 
detail,  but  with  a  sort  of  gorgeous  idleness  about  their  very  length, 
the  minuteness  of  their  description  of  outer  things,  the  vagueness 
of  their  touch  when  it  passes  to  the  subtler  inner  world.  It  was 
with  this  literature  that  Chaucer  had  till  now  been  familiar,  and  it 
was  this  which  he  followed  in  his  earlier  work.  But  from  the 
time  of  his  visits  to  Milan  and  Genoa  his  sympathies  drew  him  not 
to  the  dying  verse  of  France,  but  to  the  new  and  mighty  upgrowth 
of  poetry  in  Italy.  Dante's  eagle  looks  at  him  from  the  sun. 
"  Fraunces  Petrark,  the  laureat  poete,"  is  to  him  one  "  whose 
rethorique  sweete  enlumyned  al  Itail  of  poetrie."  The  "Troilus"  i382 
is  an  enlarged  English  version  of  Boccaccio's  "  Filostrato,"  the 
Knight's  Tale  bears  slight  traces  of  his  Teseide.  It  was,  indeed, 
the  "  Decameron  "  which  suggested  the  very  form  of  the  "  Canter- 
bury Tales."  But  even  while  changing,  as  it  were,  the  front  of 
English  poetry,  Chaucer  preserves  his  own  distinct  personality. 
If  he  quizzes  in  the  rime  of  Sir  Thopaz  the  wearisome  idleness  of 
the  French  romance,  he  retains  all  that  was  worth  retaining  of  the 
French  temper,  its  rapidity  and  agility  of  movement,  its  lightness 


422  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  i       and   brilliancy  of   touch,    its   airy   mockery,   its  gaiety  and    good 
EDWARD     humour,   its  critical  coolness  and   self-control.      The  French   wit 

THE  THIRD 

1336       quickens  in  him  more  than  in  any  English  writer  the  sturdy  sense 

TO 

1360  and  shrewdness  of  our  national  disposition,  corrects  its  extrava- 
gance, and  relieves  its  somewhat  ponderous  morality.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  he  echoes  the  joyous  carelessness  of  the  Italian  tale, 
he  tempers  it  with  the  English  seriousness.  As  he  follows 
Boccaccio,  all  his  changes  are  on  the  side  of  purity  ;  and  when  the 
Troilus  of  the  Florentine  ends  with  the  old  sneer  at  the  change- 
ableness  of  woman,  Chaucer  bids  us  "  look  Godward,"  and  dwells 
on  the  unchangeableness  of  Heaven. 

The  But  the   genius  of  Chaucer  was    neither   French  nor    Italian, 

bury  whatever  element  it  might  borrow  from  either  literature,  but 
Tales  English  to  the  core,  and  from  1384  all  trace  of  foreign  influence 
dies  away.  The  great  poem  on  which  his  fame  must  rest,  the 
"  Canterbury  Tales,"  was  begun  after  his  first  visits  to  Italy,  and 
its  best  tales  were  written  between  1384  and  1391.  The  last  ten 
years  of  his  life  saw  a  few  more  tales  added  ;  but  his  power  was 
lessening,  and  in  1400  he  rested  from  his  labours  in  his  last  home, 
a  house  in  the  garden  of  St.  Mary's  Chapel  at  Westminster. 
The  framework — that  of  a  pilgrimage  from  London  to  Canterbury 
— not  only  enabled  him  to  string  together  a  number  of  tales,  com- 
posed at  different  times,  but  lent  itself  admirably  to  the  peculiar 
characteristics  of  his  poetic  temper,  his  dramatic  versatility,  and 
the  universality  of  his  sympathy.  His  tales  cover  the  whole  field 
of  mediaeval  poetry ;  the  legend  of  the  priest,  the  knightly 
'romance,  the  wonder-tale  of  the  traveller,  the  broad  humour  of  the 
fabliau,  allegory  and  apologue  are  all  there.  He  finds  a  yet  wider 
scope  for  his  genius  in  the  persons  who  tell  these  stories,  the 
thirty  pilgrims  who  start  in  the  May  morning  from  the  Tabard  in 
Southwark — thirty  distinct  figures,  representatives  of  every  class  of 
English  society  from  the  noble  to  the  ploughman.  We  see  the 
"  verray  perfight  gentil  knight "  in  cassock  and  coat  of  mail,  with 
his  curly-headed  squire  beside  him,  fresh  as  the  May  morning,  and 
behind  them  the  brown-faced  yeoman,  in  his  coat  and  hood  of 
green,  with  the  good  bow  in  his  hand.  A  group  of  ecclesiastics 
light  up  for  us  the  mediaeval  church — the  brawny  hunt-loving 
monk,  whose  bridle  jingles  as  loud  and  clear  as  the  chapel-bell 


THE     HUNDRED    YEARS'    WAR 


423 


— the  wanton  friar,  first  among  the  beggars  and  harpers  of  the 
country  side — the  poor  parson,  threadbare,  learned,  and  devout 
("  Christ's  lore  and  His  apostles  twelve  he  taught,  and  first  he 
followed  it  himself") — the  summoner  with  his  fiery  face — the 
pardoner  with  his  wallet  "  bret-full  of  pardons,  come  from  Rome 
all  hot " — the  lively  prioress  with  her  courtly  French  lisp,  her  soft 
little  red  mouth,  and  "  Amor  vincit  omnia  "  graven  on  her  brooch. 
Learning  is  there  in  the  portly  person  of  the  doctor  of  physic,  rich 


KNIGHT. 


Ellesmere  MS.  of  Canterbury  Tales. 


SQUIRE. 


SEC.  I 

EDWARD 
THE  THIRD 

1336 

TO 
I36O 


with  the  profits  of  the  pestilence — the  busy  serjeant-of-law,  "  that 
ever  seemed  busier  than  he  was " — the  hollow-cheeked  clerk  of 
Oxford,  with  his  love  of  books,  and  short  sharp  sentences  that 
disguise  a  latent  tenderness  which  breaks  out  at  last  in  the  story 
of  Griseldis.  Around  them  crowd  types  of  English  industry  ; 
the  merchant ;  the  franklin,  in  whose  house  "  it  snowed  of  meat 
and  drink  ; "  the  sailor  fresh  from  frays  in  the  Channel ;  the 
buxom  wife  of  Bath  ;  the  broad-shouldered  miller  ;  the  haberdasher, 


424 


HISTORY    OF    THE  'ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  i  carpenter,  weaver,  dyer,  tapestry-maker,  each  in  the  livery  of  his 

EDWARD  craft '  and  last,  the  honest  ploughman,  who  would  dyke  and  delve 

CHE   THIRD  * 

1336  for  the  poor  without  hire.       It  is  the  first  time  in   English   poetry 
1360 


MONK   AND   HIS   DOGS. 


FRIAR.  PARSON. 

F.llcsmere  MS.  of  Canterbury   Tales. 


that  we  arc  brought  face  to  face  not  with  characters  or  allegories 
or  reminiscences  of  the  past,  but  with  living  and  breathing  men, 
men  distinct  in  temper  and  sentiment  as  in  face  or  costume  or 


THE   HUNDRED    YEARS'    WAR 


425 


mode  of  speech  ;  and  with  this  distinctness  of  each  maintained      SEC.  i 
throughout  the  story   by  a   thousand    shades    of  expression    and     EDWARD 

THE  THIRD 
1336 

TO 
1360 


SUMMONER. 


PARDONER. 


PRIORESS.  WIFE  OF   BATH. 

Ellesmere  MS.  of  Canterbury  Tales. 

action.       It  is  the  first  time  too,  that  we  meet  with  the  dramatic 
power  which  not  only  creates  each  character,  but  combines  it  with 


426 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  i       its  fellows,  which  not  only  adjusts  each  tale  or  jest  to  the  temper  of 
EDWARD     the  person  who  utters  it,  but  fuses  all  into  a  poetic  unity.     It  is  life 

THE  THIRD 
1336 

TO 
1360 


MAN    OF   LAW. 


CLERK   OF   OXFORD. 


MERCHANT.  FRANKLIN. 

Ellesmere  MS.  of  Canterbury  Tales. 


in  its  largeness,  its  variety,  its  complexity,  which  surrounds  us  in 
the  "  Canterbury  Tales."     In  some  of  the  stories,  indeed,  composed 


THE    HUNDRED    YEARS'  WAR 


427 


no  doubt  at  an  earlier  time,  there  is  the  tedium  of  the  old  romance       SEC.  i 
or  the  pedantry  of  the  schoolman  ;  but  taken  as  a  whole  the  poem      EDWARD 

J  THE  THIRI 


1336 

TO 
1360 


MILLER.  COOK. 

Ellesmere  MS.  of  Canterbury  Tales. 

is  the   work  not  of  a  man  of   letters,  but    of  a    man    of  action. 
Chaucer   has    received    his   training   from   war,    courts,    business, 


423  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP,  v 

SEC.  i       travel — a  training  not  of  books,  but  of  life.      And  it  is  life  that  he 
EDWARD     loves — the  delicacy  of  its  sentiment,  the  breadth  of  its  farce,  its 

THE  THIRD 

1336       laughter   and    its    tears,    the    tenderness    of    its    Griseldis    or    the 

1360       Smollett-like  adventures  of  the  miller  and  the  clerks.       It  is  this 

largeness  of  heart,  this  wide  tolerance,  which  enables  him  to  reflect 

man  for  us  as  none  but  Shakspere  has  ever  reflected  him,  and  to 

do  this  with   a   pathos,    a   shrewd    sense   and  kindly  humour,  a 


CANON  S   YEOMAN. 
'Ellesmere  MS.  of  Canterbury  Tales. 

freshness  and  joyousness  of  feeling,  that  even  Shakspere  has  not 
surpassed. 

It  is  strange  that  such  a  voice  as  this  should  have  awakened  no 
echo  in  the  singers  who  follow  ;  but  the  first  burst  of  English  song 
died  as  suddenly  and  utterly  with  Chaucer  as  the  hope  and  glory 
of  his  age.  The  hundred  years  which  follow  the  brief  sunshine 
of  Crecy  and  the  "  Canterbury  Tales "  are  years  of  the  deepest 


SECOND   NUN. 


NUN  S   PRIEST. 


MANCIPLE.  REEVE. 

Ellesmere  MS.  of  Canterbury  Tales. 


430  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  i       gloom  ;  no  age  of  our  history  is  more  sad  and  sombre  than  the  age 
EDWARD     which  we  traverse  from  the  third   Edward  to  Joan  of  Arc.     The 

THE  THIRD 

1336  throb  of  hope  and  glory  which  pulsed  at  its  outset  through  every 
1360  class  of  English  society  died  at  its  close  into  inaction  or  despair. 
Material  life  lingered  on  indeed,  commerce  still  widened,  but  its 
progress  was  dissociated  from  all  the  nobler  elements  of  national 
well-being.  The  towns  sank  again  into  close  oligarchies ;  the 
bondsmen  struggling  forward  to  freedom  fell  back  into  a  serfage 
which  still  leaves  its  trace  on  the  soil.  Literature  reached  its 
lowest  ebb.  The  religious  revival  of  the  Lollard  was  trodden  out 
in  blood,  while  the  Church  shrivelled  into  a  self-seeking  secular 
priesthood.  In  the  clash  of  civil  strife  political  freedom  was  all 
but  extinguished,  and  the  age  which  began  with  the  Good  Par- 
liament ended  with  the  despotism  of  the  Tudors. 

England  The  secret  of  the  change  is  to  be  found  in  the  fatal  war  which 
France  f°r  more  than  a  hundred  years  drained  the  strength  and  corrupted 
the  temper  of  the  English  people.  We  have  followed  the  attack  on 
Scotland  to  its  disastrous  close,  but  the  struggle,  ere  it  ended,  had 
involved  England  in  a  second  contest,  to  which  we  must  now  turn 
back,  a  contest  yet  more  ruinous  than  that  which  Edward  the  First 
had  begun.  From  the  war  with  Scotland  sprang  the  hundred 
years'  struggle  with  France.  From  the  first  France  had  watched 
the  successes  of  her  rival  in  the  north,  partly  with  a  natural 
jealousy,  but  still  more  as  likely  to  afford  her  an  opening  for 
winning  the  great  southern  Duchy  of  Guienne  and  Gascony — the 
one  fragment  of  Eleanor's  inheritance  which  remained  to  her 
descendants.  Scotland  had  no  sooner  begun  to  resent  the  claims 
of  her  over-lord,  Edward  the  First,  than  a  pretext  for  open  quarrel 
was  found  by  France  in  the  rivalry  between  the  mariners  of 
1293  Normandy  and  those  of  the  Cinque  Ports,  which  culminated  at  the 
moment  in  a  great  sea-fight  that  proved  fatal  to  8,000  Frenchmen. 
So  eager  was  Edward  to  avert  a  quarrel  with  France,  that  his 
threats  roused  the  English  seamen  to  a  characteristic  defiance. 
"  Be  the  King's  Council  well  advised,"  ran  the  remonstrance  of  the 
mariners,  "that  if  wrong  or  grievance  be  done  them  in  any  fashion 
against  right,  they  will  sooner  forsake  wives,  children,  and  all  that 
they  have,  and  go  seek  through  the  seas  where  they  shall  think  to 
make  their  profit."  In  spite,  therefore,  of  Edward's  efforts  the 


v  THE    HUNDRED    YEARS'    WAR  431 

contest   continued,  and  Philip  found  an  opportunity  to   cite   the       SEC.  i 
King  before  his  court  at  Paris  for  wrongs  done  to  him  as  suzerain.     EDWARD 

TUIT   Tuicr 

Again  Edward  endeavoured  to  avert  the  conflict  by  a  formal 
cession  of  Guienne  into  Philip's  hands  during  forty  days,  but  the 
refusal  of  the  French  sovereign  to  restore  the  province  left  no  1294 
choice  for  him  but  war.  The  refusal  of  the  Scotch  barons  to 
answer  his  summons  to  arms,  and  the  revolt  of  Balliol,  proved  that 
the  French  outrage  was  but  the  first  blow  in  a  deliberate  and  long- 
planned  scheme  of  attack  ;  Edward  had  for  a  while  no  force  to  1296 
waste  on  France,  and  when  the  first  conquest  of  Scotland  freed  his 
hands,  his  league  with  Flanders  for  the  recovery  of  Guienne  was 
foiled  by  the  strife  with  his  baronage.  A  truce  with  Philip  set  him 
free  to  meet  new  troubles  in  the  north  ;  but  even  after  the  victory 
of  Falkirk  Scotch  independence  was  still  saved  for  six  years  by  the 
threats  of  France  and  the  intervention  of  its  ally,  Boniface  the 
Eighth  ;  and  it  was  only  the  quarrel  of  these  two  confederates  I3a, 
which  allowed  Edward  to  complete  its  subjection.  But  the  rising 
under  Bruce  was  again  backed  by  French  aid  and  by  the  renewal 
of  the  old  quarrel  over  Guienne — a  quarrel  which  hampered 

O    J 

England  through  the  reign  of  Edward  the  Second,  and  which 
indirectly  brought  about  his  terrible  fall.  The  accession  of  Edward 
the  Third  secured  a  momentary  peace,  but  the  fresh  attack  on 
Scotland  which  marked  the  opening  of  his  reign  kindled  hostility 
anew  ;  the  young  King  David  found  refuge  in  France,  and  arms, 
money,  and  men  were  despatched  from  its  ports  to  support  his 
cause.  It  was  this  intervention  of  France  which  foiled  Edward's  I332 
hopes  of  the  submission  of  Scotland  at  the  very  moment  when 
success  seemed  in  his  grasp  ;  the  solemn  announcement  by  Philip 
of  Valois  that  his  treaties  bound  him  to  give  effective  help  to  his 
old  ally,  and  the  assembly  of  a  French  fleet  in  the  Channel  drew 
the  King  from  his  struggle  in  the  north  to  face  a  storm  which  his 
negotiations  could  no  longer  avert. 

From  the  first  the  war  took  European  dimensions.     The  weak-       The 
ness  of  the  Empire,  the  captivity  of  the  Papacy  at  Avignon,  left     jfe"he 
France  without  a  rival  among  European  powers.     In  numbers,  in       War 
wealth,  the  French  people  far  surpassed  their  neighbours  over  the 
Channel      England    can    hardly   have    counted    four   millions   of 
inhabitants,  France  boasted  of  twenty.     Edward  could  only  bring 


43  2 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  I 

EDWAKD 
THE  THIRD 

1336 

TO 
1360 


1338 


1339 


eight  thousand  men-at-arms  into  the  field.  Philip,  while  a  third  of 
his  force  was  busy  elsewhere,  could  appear  at  the  head  of  forty 
thousand.  Edward's  whole  energy  was  bent  on  meeting  the 
strength  of  France  by  a  coalition  of  powers  against  her  ;  and  his 
plans  were  helped  by  the  dread  which  the  great  feudatories  of  the 
Empire  who  lay  nearest  to  him  felt  of  French  annexation,  as  well 
as  by  the  quarrel  of  the  Empire  with  the  Papacy.  Anticipating 


DRINKING-HORN    GIVEN     BY    QUEEN    PHILIPPA    OF    HAINAULT    TO    QUEEN'S 

COLLEGE,    OXFORD. 
Skelton,  "  Oxonij.  Antigua  Restatirata." 

the  later  policy  of  Godolphin  and  Pitt,  Edward  became  the 
paymaster  of  the  poorer  princes  of  Germany  ;  his  subsidies  pur- 
chased the  aid  of  Hainault,  Geldcrs,  and  Jiilich  ;  sixty  thousand 
crowns  went  to  the  Duke  of  Brabant,  while  the  Emperor  himself 
was  induced  by  a  promise  of  three  thousand  gold  florins  to  furnish 
two  thousand  men-at-arms.  Negotiations  and  profuse  expenditure, 
however,  brought  the  King  little  fruit  save  the  title  of  Vicar- 
General  of  the  Empire  on  the  left  of  the  Rhine  ;  now  the  Emperor 
hung  back,  now  the  allies  refused  to  move  ;  and  when  the  host  at 


THE    HUNDRED    YEARS'    WAR 


433 


last  crossed  the  border,  Edward  found  it  impossible'  to  bring  the 
French  king  to  an  engagement.  But  as  hope  from  the  Imperial 
alliance  faded  away,  a  fresh  hope  dawned  on  the  King  from 
another  quarter.  Flanders  was  his  natural  ally.  England  was  the 
great  wool-producing  country  of  the  west,  but  few  woollen  fabrics 


SPINNING    AND    BLOWING    FIRE. 

Early  Fourteenth  Century. 

MS.  Roy.  10  E.  iv. 


were  woven  in  England.  The  number  of  weavers'  gilds  shows  that 
the  trade  was  gradually  extending,  and  at  the  very  outset  of  his 
reign  Edward  had,  taken  steps  for  its  encouragement.  He  invited 
Flemish  weavers  to  settle  in  his  country,  and  took  the  new 


SEC.  I 


1336 

TO 

1360 


BOAT    WITH     RUDDER,    A.D.     1338 — 1344. 
MS.  Bodl.  Misc.  264. 

immigrants,  who  chose  the  eastern  counties  for  the  seat  of  thei 
trade,  under  his  royal  protection.  But  English  manufactures  were 
still  in  their  infancy,  and  nine-tenths  of  the  English  wool  went  to 
the  looms  of  Bruges  or  of  Ghent.  We  may  see  the  rapid  growth 
of  this  export  trade  in  the  fact  that  the  King  received  in  a  single 
VOL.  I—a? 


434 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  I 

EDWARD 
THE  THIRD 

1336 

TO 
1360 


1340 


year  more  than  ,£30,000  from  duties  levied  on  wool  alone.  A 
stoppage  of  this  export  would  throw  half  the  population  of  the 
great  Flemish  towns  out  of  work  ;  and  Flanders  was  drawn  to  the 
English  alliance,  not  only  by  the  interest  of  trade,  but  by  the 
democratic  spirit  of  the  towns  which  jostled  roughly  with  the 
feudalism  of  France.  A  treaty  was  concluded  with  the  Duke  of 
Brabant  and  the  Flemish  towns,  and  preparations  were  made  for  a 
new  campaign.  Philip  gathered  a  fleet  of  two  hundred  vessels  at 
Sluys  to  prevent  his  crossing  the  Channel,  but  Edward  with  a  far 
smaller  force  utterly  destroyed  the  French  ships,  and  marched  to 
invest  Tournay.  Its  siege  however  proved  fruitless  ;  his  vast  army- 
broke  up,  and  want  of  money  forced  him  to  a  truce  for  a  year.  A 
quarrel  of  succession  to  the  Duchy  of  Brittany,  which  broke  out  in 


(Obverse.)  (Reverse.) 

GOLD   NOBLE   OF   EDWARD   III.,   1344,  COM  MEMORATING  THE   VICTORY  AT   SLUYS. 

1341,  and  in  which  of  the  two  rival  claimants  one  was  supported 
by  Philip  and  the  other  by  Edward,  dragged  on  year  after  year. 
In  Flanders  things  went  ill  for  the  English  cause,  and  the  death  of 
the  great  statesman  Van  Arteveldt  in  1 345  proved  a  heavy  blow  to 
Edward's  projects.  The  King's  difficulties  indeed  had  at  last 
reached  their  height.  His  loans  from  the  great  bankers  of 
Florence  amounted  to  half  a  million  of  our  money  ;  his  overtures 
for  peace  were  contemptuously  rejected  ;  the  claim  which  he 
advanced  to  the  French  crown  found  not  a  single  adherent  save 
among  the  burghers  of  Ghent.  To  establish  such  a  claim,  indeed, 
was  difficult  enough.  The  three  sons  of  Philip  the  Fair  had  died 
without  male  issue,  and  Edward  claimed  as  the  son  of  Philip's 
daughter  Isabella.  But  though  her  brothers  had  left  no  sons,  they 
had  left  daughters  ;  and  if  female  succession  were  admitted,  these 


THE    HUNDRED    YEARS'    WAR 


435 


daughters  of  Philip's  sons  would  precede  a  son  of  Philip's  daughter. 
Isabella  met  this  difficulty  by  contending  that  though  females 
could  transmit  the  right  of  succession  they  could  not  themselves 
possess  it,  and  that  her  son,  as  the  nearest  living  male  descendant 
of  Philip,  and  born  in  his  lifetime,  could  claim  in  preference  to 
females  who  were  related  to  Philip  in  as  near  a  degree.  But  the 
bulk  of  French  jurists  asserted  that  only  male  succession  gave 
right  to  the  throne.  On  such  a  theory  the  right  inheritable  from 
Philip  was  exhausted  ;  and  the  crown  passed  to  the  son  of  his 
brother  Charles  of  Valois,  \vho  in  fact  peacefully  mounted  the 
throne  as  Philip  the  Sixth.  Edward's  claim  seems  to  have  been 
regarded  on  both  sides  as  a  mere  formality  ;  the  King,  in  fact,  did 


SEC.  I 


MEETING    OF    EDWARD    III.     AND    PHILIP    OF    FRANCE,    1331. 

MS.  Roy.  20  C.  vi i. 
French,  late  Fourteenth  Century. 


full  and  liege  homage  to  his  rival  for  his  Duchy  of  Guienne  ;  and  it 
was  not  till  his  hopes  from  Germany  had  been  exhausted,  and  his 
claim  was  found  to  be  useful  in  securing  the  loyal  aid  of  the 
Flemish  towns,  that  it  was  brought  seriously  to  the  front. 

The  failure  of  his  foreign  hopes  threw  Edward  on  the  resources 
of  England  itself,  and  it  was  with  an  army  of  thirty  thousand 
men  that  he  landed  at  La  Hogue,  and  commenced  a  march  which 
was  to  change  the  whole  face  of  the  war.  The  French  forces  were 
engaged  in  holding  in  check  an  English  army  which  had  landed 
in  Guienne  ;  and  panic  seized  the  French  King  as  Edward  now 
marched  through  Normandy,  and  finding  the  bridges  on  the  lower 
Seine  broken,  pushed  straight  on  Paris,  rebuilt  the  bridge  of  Poissy 


1331 


Crecy 


436  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  i       and  threatened  the  capital.     At  this  crisis,  however,  France  found 
EDWARD     an    unexpected    help  in  a  body  of   German   knights.     The  Pope 

THE  THIRD 

1336       having  deposed  the  Emperor  Lewis  of  Bavaria,  had  crowned  as 
1360       his  successor  a  son  of  King   John    of  Bohemia,   the  well-known 
Charles  IV.  of  the  Golden  Bull.    But  against  this  Papal  assumption 
of  a  right  to  bestow  the  German  Crown,  Germany  rose  as  one  man, 
and  Charles,  driven  to  seek  help  from  Philip,  now  found  himself  in 
France   with    his    father    and    a   troop   of   five   hundred    knights. 
Hurrying  to  Parrs  this  German  force  formed  the  nucleus  of  an  army 
which  assembled  at  St.  Denys  ;  and  which  was  soon  reinforced  by 
15,000    Genoese  cross-bowmen  who  had   been  hired  from  among 
the  soldiers  of  the   Lord  of  Monaco  on   the  sunny  Riviera,  and 
arrived  at  this  hour  of  need.     The  French  troops  too  were  called 
from  Guienne  to  the  rescue.     With  this  host  rapidly  gathering  in 
his  front  Edward  abandoned  his  march  on  Paris,  and  threw  him- 
self across  the  Seine  to  join  a  Flemish  force  gathered  at  Grave- 
lines,  and  open  a  campaign  in   the  north.     But  the  rivers  in  his 
path  were  carefully  guarded,  and  it  was  only  by  surprising  the  ford 
of  Blanche-Taque  on  the  Somme,  that  Edward  escaped  the  neces- 
sity of  surrendering  to  the  vast  host  which  was  now  hastening  in 
pursuit.     His  communications,  however,  were  no  sooner  secured 
than  he  halted  at  the  village  of  Crecy,  in  Ponthieu,   and  resolved 
to  give  battle.     Half  of  his  army,  now  greatly  reduced  in  strength 
by  his  rapid  marches,  consisted  of  the  light-armed  footmen  of  Ire- 
land and   Wales  ;    the   bulk  of    the  remainder  was   composed  of 
English  bowmen.    The  King  ordered  his  men-at-arms  to  dismount, 
and  drew  up  his  forces  on  a  low  rise  sloping  gently  to  the  south- 
east, with  a  windmill   on  its  summit  from  which  he  could  overlook 
the  whole  field  of  battle.    Immediately  beneath  him  lay  his  reserve, 
while  at  the  base  of  the  slope  was  placed  the  main  body  of  the 
army  in  two  divisions,  that  to  the  right  commanded  by  the  young 
Prince  of  Wales,  Edward  the  Black  Prince  as  he  was  called,  that 
Crtcy      to  the  left  by  the  Earl  of  Northampton.     A  small  ditch  protected 
t^e  English  front,  and  behind  it  the  bowmen  were  drawn  up  "in 
the  form  of  a  harrow,"  with  small  bombards  between  them  "which, 
with  fire,  threw  little  iron  balls  to  frighten  the  horses  " — the  first 
instance  of  the  use  of  artillery  in  field  warfare.     The  halt  of  the 
English  army  took  Philip  by  surprise,  and  he  attempted  for  a  time 


v  THE    HUNDRED    YEARS'    WAR  437 

to  check  the  advance  of  his  army,  but  the  disorderly  host  rolled  on       SEC,  i 
to  the  English  front.     The  sight  of  his  enemies,  indeed,  stirred  the     EDWARD 

THE  THIRD 

King's  own  blood  to  fury,  "  for  he  hated  them,"  and  at  vespers  the       1336 

TO 

fight  began.  The  Genoese  crossbowmen  were  ordered  to  begin  1360 
the  attack,  but  the  men  were  weary  with  the  march  ;  a  sudden 
storm  wetted  and  rendered  useless  their  bowstrings  ;  and  the  loud 
shouts  with  which  they  leapt  forward  to  the  encounter  were  met 
with  dogged  silence  in  the  English  ranks.  Their  first  arrow-flight, 
however,  brought  a  terrible  reply.  So  rapid  was  the  English  shot, 
"  that  it  seemed  as  if  it  snowed."  "  Kill  me  these  scoundrels," 
shouted  Philip,  as  the  Genoese  fell  back  ;  and  his  men-at-arms 
plunged  butchering  into  their  broken  ranks,  while  the  Counts  of 
Alencon  and  Flanders,  at  the  head  of  the  French  knighthood,  fell 
hotly  on  the  Prince's  line.  For  the  instant  his  small  force  seemed 
lost,  but  Edward  refused  to  send  him  aid.  "  Is  he  dead  or  un- 
horsed, or  so  wounded  that  he  cannot  help  himself  ?  •"  he  asked  the 
envoy.  "  No,  Sir,"  was  the  reply,  "  but  he  is  in  a  hard  passage  of 
arms,  and  sorely  needs  your  help."  "  Return  to  those  that  sent 
you,  Sir  Thomas,"  said  the  King,  "  and  bid  them  not  send  to  me 
again  so  long  as  my  son  lives  !  Let  the  boy  win  his  spurs  ;  for  if 
God  so  order  it,  I  will  that  the  day  may  be  his,  and  that  the  hon- 
our may  be  with  him  and  them  to  whom  I  have  given  it  in  charge." 
Edward  could  see,  in  fact,  from  his  higher  ground,  that  all  went 
well.  The  English  bowmen  and  men-at-arms  held  their  ground 
stoutly,  while  the  Welshmen  stabbed  the  French  horses  in  the 
melee,  and  brought  knight  after  knight  to  the  ground.  Soon  the 
French  host  was  wavering  in  a  fatal  confusion.  "You  are  my 
vassals,  my  friends,"  cried  the  blind  King  John  of  Bohemia,  who 
had  joined  Philip's  army,  to  the  German  nobles  around  him  :  "  I 
pray  and  beseech  you  to  lead  me  so  far  into  the  fight  that  I  may 
strike  one  good  blow  with  this  sword  of  mine ! "  Linking  their 
bridles  together,  the  little  company  plunged  into  the  thick  of  the 
conflict  to  fall  as  their  fellows  were  falling.  The  battle  went 
steadily  against  the  French  :  at  last  Philip  himself  hurried  from  the 
field,  and  the  defeat  became  a  rout :  1,200  knights  and  30,000  foot- 
men— a  number  equal  to  the  whole  English  force — lay  dead  upon 
the  ground. 

"  God  has  punished  us  for  our  sins,"  cries  the  chronicler  of  St.      Calais 


438 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  I 

EDWARD 
THE  THIRD 

1336 

TO 
1360 


Denys,  in  a  passion  of  bewildered  grief,  as  he  tells  the  rout  of  the 
great  host  which  he  had  seen  mustering  beneath  his  abbey  walls. 
But  the  fall  of  France  was  hardly  so  sudden  or  so  incomprehensible 
as  the  ruin  at  a  single  blow  of  a  system  of  warfare,  and  of  the 
political  and  social  fabric  which  rested  on  it.  Feudalism  depended 
on  the  superiority  of  the  mounted  noble  to  the  unmounted  churl ; 
its  fighting  power  lay  in  its  knighthood.  But  the  English  yeomen 
and  small  freeholders  who  bore  the  bow  in  the  national  fyrd  had 
raised  their  weapon  into  a  terrible  engine  of  war ;  in  the  English 
archers  Edward  carried  a  new  class  of  soldiers  to  the  fields  of 
France.  The  churl  had  struck  down  the  noble ;  the  yeoman 
proved  more  than  a  match  in  sheer  hard  fighting  for  the  knight. 


SHOOTING    AT    BUTTS,    C.   A.D.    1340. 
Loutrell  Psalter. 


From  the  day  of  Crecy  feudalism  tottered  slowly  but  surely  to  its 
grave.  To  England  the  day  was  the  beginning  of  a  career  of 
military  glory,  which,  fatal  as  it  was  destined  to  prove  to  the 
higher  sentiments  and  interests  of  the  nation,  gave  it  for  the  mo- 
ment an  energy  such  as  it  had  never  known  before.  Victory 
followed  victory.  A  few  months  after  Crecy  a  Scotch  army  which 
Neville's  had  burst  into  the  north  was  routed  at  Neville's  Cross,  and  its 
King,  David  Bruce,  taken  prisoner  ;  while  the  withdrawal  of  the 
French  from  the  Garonne  enabled  the  English  to  recover  Poitou. 
Edward  meanwhile  turned  to  strike  at  the  naval  superiority  of 
France  by  securing  the  mastery  of  the  Channel.  Calais  was  a 
great  pirate-haven  ;  in  one  year  alone,  twenty-two  privateers  had 
sailed  from  its  port  ;  while  its  capture  promised  the  King  an  easy 
base  of  communication  with  Flanders,  and  of  operations  against 


v  THE    HUNDRED    YEARS'    WAR  439 

France.     The  siege  lasted  a  year,  and  it  was  not  till  Philip  had       SEC,  i 

failed  to  relieve  it  that  the  town  was  starved  into  surrender.    Mercy 

was  granted  to  the  garrison  and  the  people  on  condition  that  six 

of   the  citizens   gave  themselves  unconditionally  into  the   King's 

hands.     "  On  them,"  said  Edward,  with  a  burst  of  bitter  hatred,  "  I        1347 

will  do  my  will."      At  the  sound  of  the  town  bell,  Jehan  le  Bel 

tells  us,  the    folk    of   Calais  gathered  round  the  bearer  of   these 

terms,  "desiring  to  hear  their  good  news,  for  they  were  all  mad 

with   hunger.     When   the  said   knight  told    them   his  news,  then 

began  they  to  weep  and  cry  so  loudly  that  it  was  great  pity.    Then 

stood  up  the  wealthiest  burgess  of  the  town,  Master  Eustache  dc 

S.  Pierre  by  name,  and  spake  thus  before  all  :  '  My  masters,  great 

grief  and  mishap  it  were  for  all  to  leave  such  a  people  as  this  is 

to  die  by  famine  or  otherwise  ;  and  great  charity  and  grace  would 

he  win  from  our  Lord  who  could  defend  them  from  dying.     For 

me,  I  have  great  hope  in  the  Lord  that  if  I  can  save  this  people  by 

my  death,  I  shall  have  pardon  for  my  faults,  wherefore  will  I  be 

the  first  of  the  six,  and  of  my  own  will  put  myself  barefoot  in  my 

shirt  and  with  a  halter  round   my  neck  in   the   mercy  of   King 

Edward.' "     The  list  of  devoted  men  was  soon  made  up,  and  the 

six  victims  were  led  before  the  King.     "  All  the  host  assembled 

together ;  there  was  great  press,  and  many  bade  hang  them  openly, 

and  many  wept  for  pity.     The  noble  king  came  with  his  train  of 

counts  and  barons  to    the  place,  and    the    Queen    followed  him, 

though  great  with  child,  to  see   what  there  would  be.     The  six 

citizens  knelt  down  at  once  before  the  King,  and  Master  Eustache 

said  thus :  '  Gentle  King,  here  be  we  six  who  have  been  of  the  old 

bourgeoisie  of  Calais  and  great  merchants  ;  we  bring  you  the  keys 

of  the  town  and  castle  of  Calais,  and  render  them  to  you  at  your 

pleasure.     We  set  ourselves  in  such  wise  as  you  see  purely  at  your 

will,  to  save  the  remnant  of  the  people  that  have  suffered  much 

pain.     So  may  you    have  pity  and   mercy  on    us   for  your  high 

nobleness'  sake.'     Certes,  there  was  then  in  that  place  neither  lord 

nor  knight  that  wept  not  for  pity,  nor  who  could  speak  for  pity ; 

but  the  King  had  his  heart  so  hardened  by  wrath,  that  for  a  long 

while  he  could  not  reply  ;  then  he  commanded    to  cut  off  their 

heads.     All  the  knights  and  lords  prayed  him  with  tears,  as  much 

as  they  could,  to  have  pity  on  them,  but  he  would  not  hear.     Then 


44o  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  i       spoke  the  gentle  knight,  Master  Walter  de  Maunay,  and  said,  '  Ha, 
-  EDWARD     eentle  sire !  bridle  vour  wrath  ;  you  have  the  renown  and  good  fame 

THE  THIRD     B  J 

1336  of  all  gentleness  ;  do  not  a  thing  whereby  men  can  speak  any 
1360  villany  of  you  !  If  you  have  no  pity,  all  men  will  say  that  you 
have  a  heart  full  of  all  cruelty  to  put  these  good  citizens  to  death 
that  of  their  own  will  are  come  to  render  themselves  to  you  to  save 
the  remnant  of  their  people.'  At  this  point  the  King  changed 
countenance  with  wrath,  and  said,  '  Hold  your  peace,  Master 
Walter  !  it  shall  be  none  otherwise.  Call  the  headsman  !  They  of 
Calais  have  made  so  many  of  my  men  die,  that  they  must  die 
themselves  ! '  Then  did  the  noble  Queen  of  England  a  deed  of 
noble  lowliness,  seeing  she  was  great  with  child,  and  wept  so  ten- 
derly for  pity,  that  she  could  no  longer  stand  upright ;  therefore 
she  cast  herself  on  her  knees  before  her  lord  the  King,  and  spake 
on  this  wise :  '  Ah,  gentle  sire  !  from  the  day  that  I  passed  over 
sea  in  great  peril,  as  you  know,  I  have  asked  for  nothing :  now 
pray  I  and  beseech  you,  with  folded  hands,  for  the  love  of  our 
Lady's  Son,  to  have  mercy  upon  them.'  The  gentle  King  waited 
for  a  while  before  speaking,  and  looked  on  the  Queen  as  she  knelt 
before  him  bitterly  weeping.  Then  began  his  heart  to  soften  a 
little,  and  he  said,  '  Lady,  I  would  rather  you  had  been  other- 
where ;  you  pray  so  tenderly,  that  I  dare  not  refuse  you  ;  and 
though  I  do  it  against  my 'will,  nevertheless  take  them,  I  give  them 
to  you.'  Then  took  he  the  six  citizens  by  the  halters  and  delivered 
them  to  the  Queen,  and  released  from  death  all  those  of  Calais  for 
the  love  of  her  ;  and  the  good  lady  bade  them  clothe  the  six 
burgesses  and  make  them  good  cheer." 

Poitiers  Edward  now  stood  at  the  height  of  his  renown.     He  had  won 

the  greatest  victory  of  his  age.  France,  till  now  the  first  of  Euro- 
pean states,  was  broken  and  dashed  from  her  pride  of  place  at  a 
single  blow.  A  naval  picture  of  Froissart  sketches  Edward  for  us 
as  he  sailed  to  meet  a  Spanish  fleet  which  was  sweeping  the  narrow 
seas.  We  see  the  King  sitting  on  deck  in  his  jacket  of  black  velvet, 
his  head  covered  by  a  black  beaver  hat  "  which  became  him  well," 
and  calling  on  Sir  John  Chandos  to  troll  out  the  songs  he  had 
brought  with  him  from  Germany,  till  the  Spanish  ships  heave  in 
sight  and  a  furious  fight  begins  which  ends  in  a  victory  that  leaves 
1347-1355  Edward  "  King  of  the  Seas."  But  peace  with  France  was  as  far  off 


THE    HUNDRED    YEARS'    WAR 


441 


as  ever.  Even  the  truce  which  for  seven  years  was  forced  on  both 
countries  by  sheer  exhaustion  became  at  last  impossible.  Edward 
prepared  three  armies  to  act  at  once  in  Normandy,  Brittany,  and 
Guienne,  but  the  plan  of  the  campaign  broke  down.  The  Black 


SEA    FIGHT. 

Early  Fourteenth  Century. 

MS.  Roy.  10  E.  iv. 


Prince,  as  the  hero  of  Crecy  was  called,  alone  won  a  disgraceful 
success.  Unable  to  pay  his  troops,  he  staved  off  their  demands  by 
a  campaign  of  sheer  pillage.  Northern  and  central  France  had  by 
this  time  fallen  into  utter  ruin  ;  the  royal  treasury  was  empty,  the 
fortresses  unoccupied,  the  troops  disbanded  for  want  of  pay,  the 


TILTING    ON     THE    WATER. 

Early  Fourteenth  Century. 

MS.  Roy.  2  B.  vii. 


SEC.  I 

EDWARD 
THE  THIRD 

1336 

TO 
I36O 


country  swept  by  bandits.  Only  the  south  remained  at  .peace,  and 
the  young  Prince  led  his  army  of  freebooters  up  the  Garonne  into 
"  what  was  before  one  of  the  fat  countries  of  the  world,  the  people 
good  and  simple,  who  did  not  know  what  war  was  ;  indeed,  no  war 
had  been  waged  against  them  till  the  Prince  came.  The  English 


442 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  I 

EDWARD 
THE  THIRD 

1336 

TO 
1360 


and  Gascons  found  the  country  full  and  gay,  the  rooms  adorned 
with  carpets  and  draperies,  the  caskets  and  chests  full  of  fair  jewels. 
But  nothing  was  safe  from  these  robbers.  They,  and  especially  the 
Gascons,  who  are  very  greedy,  carried  off  everything."  The  cap- 
ture of  Narbonne  loaded  them  with  booty,  and  they  fell  back  to 
Bordeaux,  "  their  horses  so  laden  with  spoil  that  they  could  hardly 


ENGLISH   SOLDIERS   SCALING   A   FORTRESS   IN   GASCONY,    TEMP.    EDWARD    III. 

MS.  Roy.  14  D.  iv. 
Flemish,  Fourteenth  Century. 


1356 


Poitiers 


i 
1356 


move."  The  next  year  a  march  of  the  Prince's  army  on  the  Loire 
pointed  straight  upon  Paris,  and  a  French  army  under  John,  who  had 
succeeded  Philip  of  Valois  on  the  throne,  hurried  to  check  his 
advance.  The  Prince  gave  orders  for  a  retreat,  but  as  he  ap- 
Proacned  Poitiers  he  found  the  French,  who  now  numbered  60,000 
men,  in  his  path.  lie  at  once  took  a  strong  position  in  the  fields 


443 


of  Maupertuis,  his  front  covered  by  thick  hedges,  and  approachable       SEC.  i 
only  by  a  deep  and  narrow  lane  which  ran  between  vineyards.     EDWARD 

'        J  THE  THIRD 

The  Prince  lined  the  vineyards  and  hedges  with  bowmen,  and  drew  1336 
up  his  small  body  of  men-at-arms  at  the  point  where  the  lane  1360 
opened  upon  the  higher  plain  where  he  was  encamped.  His  force 
numbered  only  8,000  men,  and  the  danger  was  great  enough  to 
force  him  to  offer  the  surrender  of  his  prisoners  and  of  the  places 
he  had  taken,  and  an  oath  not  to  fight  against  France  for  seven 
years,  in  exchange  for  a  free  retreat.  The  terms  were  rejected,  and 
three  hundred  French  knights  charged  up  the  narrow  lane.  It  was 
soon  choked  with  men  and  horses,  while  the  front  ranks  of  the 
advancing  army  fell  back  before  a  galling  fire  of  arrows  from  the 
hedgerows.  In  the  moment  of  confusion  a  body  of  English  horsemen, 
posted  on  a  hill  to  the  right,  charged  suddenly  on  the  French  flank, 
and  the  Prince  seized  the  opportunity  to  fall  boldly  on  their  front. 
The  English  archery  completed  the  disorder  produced  by  this 
sudden  attack  ;  the  French  King  was  taken,  desperately  fighting ; 
and  at  noontide,  when  his  army  poured  back  in  utter  rout  to  the 
gates  of  Poitiers,  8,000  of  their  number  had  fallen  on  the  field, 
3,000  in  the  flight,  and  2,000  men-at-arms,  with  a  crowd  of  nobles, 
were  taken  prisoners.  The  royal  captive  entered  London  in 
triumph,  and  a  truce  for  two  years  seemed  to  give  healing-time  to 
France.  But  the  miserable  country  found  no  rest  in  itself.  The 
routed  soldiery  turned  into  free  companies  of  bandits,  while  the 
captive  lords  procured  the  sums  needed  for  their  ransom  by  extortion 
from  the  peasantry,  who  were  driven  by  oppression  and  famine  into 
wild  insurrection,  butchering  their  lords,  and  firing  the  castles  ; 
while  Paris,  impatient  of  the  weakness  and  misrule  of  the  Regency, 
rose  in  arms  against  the  Crown.  The  "  Jacquerie,"  as  the  peasant 
rising  was  called,  had  hardly  been  crushed,  when  Edward  again 
poured  ravaging  over  the  wasted  land.  Famine,  however,  proved 
its  best  defence.  "  I  could  not  believe,"  said  Petrarch  of  this  time, 
"that  this  was  the  same  France  which  I  had  seen  so  rich  and  flourish- 
ing. Nothing  presented  itself  to  my  eyes  but  a  fearful  solitude,  an 
utter  poverty,  land  uncultivated,  houses  in  ruins.  Even  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Paris  showed  everywhere  marks  of  desolation  and 
conflagration.  The  streets  are  deserted,  the  roads  overgrown  with 
weeds,  the  whole  is  a  vast  solitude."  The  misery  of  the  land  at 


444  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 


SEC.  ii      last    bent  Charles  to  submission,  and  in  May  a  treaty  was  con- 
THE  GOOD    eluded  at  Bretignv,  a   small  place  to  the    eastward   of   Chartres. 

PARLIA-  &    }  ' 

By  this  treaty  the  English  King  waived  his  claims  on  the  crown 
of  France  and  on  the  Duchy  of  Normandy.     On  the  other  hand, 
his    Duchy  of  Aquitaine,  which    included    Gascony,  Poitou,  and 
Bretigny    Saintonge,  the  Limousin  and  the  Angoumois,  Perigord  and   the 
May  1360  counties  of  Bigorre  and  Rouergue,  was  not  only  restored  but  freed 
from  its  obligations    as  a  French  fief,  and    granted  in  full    sove- 
reignty with  Ponthieu,  Edward's  heritage  from  the  second  wife  of 
Edward  the  First,  as  well  as  with  Guisnes  and  his  new  conquest  of 
Calais. 


Section  II. — The  Good  Parliament,  1360 — 1377 

[Authorities. — As  in  the  last  period.  An  anonymous  chronicler  whose  work 
is  printed  in  the  "  Archaeologia  "  (vol.  22)  gives  the  story  of  the  Good  Parlia- 
ment ;  another  account  is  preserved  in  the  "  Chronica  Angliae  from  1328  to 
1388"  (Rolls  Series),  and  fresh  light  has  been  recently  thrown  on  the  time  by 
the  publication  of  a  Chronicle  by  Adam  of  Usk  from  1377  to  1404.] 

The  Two  If  we  turn  from  the  stirring  but  barren  annals  of  foreign  warfare 
to  the  more  fruitful  field  of  constitutional  progress,  we  are  at  once 
struck  with  a  marked  change  which  takes  place  during  this,  period 
in  the  composition  of  Parliament.  The  division,  with  which  we 
are  so  familiar,  into  a  House  of  Lords  and  a  House  of  Commons, 
formed  no  part  of  the  original  plan  of  Edward  the  First ;  in  the 
earlier  Parliaments,  each  of  the  four  orders  of  clergy,  barons, 
knights,  and  burgesses  met,  deliberated,  and  made  their  grants 
apart  from  each  other.  This  isolation,  however,  of  the  Estates 
soon  showed  signs  of  breaking  down.  While  the  clergy,  as  we 
have  seen,  held  steadily  aloof  from  any  real  union  with  its  fellow- 
orders,  the  knights  of  the  shire  were  drawn  by  the  similarity  of 
their  social  position  into  a  close  connexion  with  the  lords.  They 
seem,  in  fact,  to  have  been  soon  admitted  by  the  baronage  to  an 
almost  equal  position  with  themselves,  whether  as  legislators  or 
counsellors  of  the  Crown.  The  burgesses,  on  the  other  hand,  took 
little  part  at  first  in  Parliamentary  proceedings,  save  in  those 
which  related  to  the  taxation  of  their  class.  But  their  position  was 


FRANCE  AT  THE  TREATY  OF  BRETTGNY 


THE    HUNDRED    YEARS'    WAR 


445 


raised  by  the  strifes  of  the  reign  of  Edward  the  Second,  when 
their  aid  was  needed  by  the  baronage  in  its  struggle  with  the 
Crown  ;  and  their  right  to  share  fully  in  all  legislative  action  was 
asserted  in  the  famous  statute  of  1322.  Gradually  too,  through 


SEC,  n 


it 


THE    ENGLISH     HOUSE    OF     LORDS     UNDER     EDWARD     I. 

Pinkerton,   "  Iconographia  Scotica  ;  "  from  a.  drawing  tern*.   Edward  II'. 

causes  with  which  we  are  imperfectly  acquainted,  the  knights  of  the 
shire  drifted  from  their  older  connexion  with  the  baronage  into  so 
close  and  intimate  a  union  with  the  representatives  of  the  towns  that 
at  the  opening  of  the  reign  of  Edward  the  Third  the  two  orders 
arc  found  grouped  formally  together,  under  the  name  of  "The 


446 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  II 

THE  GOOD 
PARLIA- 
MENT 
1360 

TO 
1377 


1354 


Commons";  and  by  1341  the  final  division  of  Parliament  into 
two  Houses  was  complete.  It  is  difficult  to  over-estimate  the  im- 
portance of  this  change.  Had  Parliament  remained  broken  up 
into  its  four  orders  of  clergy,  barons,  knights,  and  citizens,  its 
power  would  have  been  neutralized  at  every  great  crisis  by  the 

jealousies  and  difficulty  of  co-operation 
among  its  component  parts.  A  perma- 
nent union  of  the  knighthood  and  the 
baronage,  on  the  other  hand,  would  have 
converted  Parliament  into  a  mere  repre- 
sentative of  an  aristocratic  caste,  and 
would  have  robbed  it  of  the  strength 
which  it  has  drawn  from  its  connexion 
with  the  great  body  of  the  commercial 
classes.  The  new  attitude  of  the  knight- 
hood, their  social  connexion  as  landed 
gentry  with  the  baronage,  their  political 
union  with  the  burgesses,  really  welded 
the  three  orders  into  one,  and  gave  that 
unity  of  feeling  and  action  to  our  Parlia- 
ment ojn  which  its  power  has  ever  since 
mainly  depended.  From  the  moment 
of  this  change,  indeed,  we  see  a  marked 
increase  of  parliamentary  activity.  The 
need  of  continual  grants  during  the 
war  brought  about  an  assembly  of  Par- 
liament year  by  year ;  and  with  each 
supply  some  step  was  made  to  greater 
political  influence.  A  crowd  of  enact- 
ments for  the  regulation  of  trade, 
whether  wise  or  unwise,  and  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  subject  against  oppression  or  injustice,  as  well  as  the 
great  ecclesiastical  provisions  of  this  reign,  show  the  rapid  widening 
of  the  sphere  of  parliamentary  action.  The  Houses  claimed  an 
exclusive  right  to  grant  supplies,  and  asserted  the  principle  of 
ministerial  responsibility  to  Parliament.  But  the  Commons  long 
shrank  from  meddling  with  purely  administrative  matters.  Ed- 
ward in  his  anxiety  to  shift  from  his  shoulders  the  responsibility 


BRASS   OF   SIR    ROBERT    ATTE- 
TYE,  IN   BAKSHAM    CHURCH, 
SUFFOLK,    C.    1380. 
Suckling,   '"History  of  Suffolk." 


THE    HUNDRED    YEARS'    WAR 


447 


of  the  war  with  France,  referred  to  them  for  counsel  on  the  subject 
of   one  of  the  numerous  propositions  of  peace.     "  Most  dreaded 
lord,"  they  replied,  "  as  to  your  war  and  the  equipment  necessary 
for  it,  we  are  so  ignorant  and  simple  that  we 
know  not  how,  nor  have  the  power,  to  devise  : 
wherefore  we  pray  your  Grace  to  excuse  us  in 
this  matter,  and  that  it  please  you,  with  advice 
of  the  great  and  wise  persons  of  your  Council, 
to  ordain  what  seems  best  to  you  for  the  honour 
and  profit  of  yourself  and    of  your  kingdom  ; 
and  whatsoever  shall  be  thus  ordained  by  assent 
and  agreement  on  the  part  of  you  and  your  lords 
we   readily   assent   to,  and  will   hold  it   firmly 
established."     But  while  shrinking  from  so  wide 
an  extension  of   their  responsibility,  the  Com- 
mons   wrested   from  the  Crown  a  practical  re- 
form of  the  highest  value.     As  yet  their  peti- 
tions,  if  granted,  were    often    changed    or    left 
incomplete   in    the  statute  or  ordinance  which 
professed   to    embody   them,    or    were    delayed 
till  the   session  had  closed.      Thus   many  pro- 
visions made  in  Parliament  had  hitherto  been 
evaded  or   set  aside.      But  the  Commons  now 
met  this  abuse  by  a  demand  that  on  the  royal 
assent  being  given  their  petitions  should  be  turned  without  change 
into  statutes  of  the  realm,  and  derive  force  of  law  from  their  entry 
on  the  rolls  of  Parliament. 

The  political  responsibility  which  the  Commons  evaded  was  at 
last  forced  on  them  by  the  misfortunes  of  the  war.  In  spite  of 
quarrels  in  Brittany  and  elsewhere,  peace  was  fairly  preserved  in 
the  nine  years  which  followed  the  treaty  of  Bretigny  ;  but  the 
shrewd  eye  of  Charles  the  Fifth,  the  successor  of  John,  was  watch- 
ing keenly  for  the  moment  of  renewing  the  struggle.  He  had 
cleared  his  kingdom  of  the  freebooters  by  despatching  them  into 
Spain,  and  the  Black  Prince  had  plunged  into  the  revolutions  of 
that  country  only  to  return  from  his  fruitless  victory  of  Navarete  in 
broken  health,  and  impoverished  by  £he  expenses  of  the  campaign. 
The  anger  caused  by  the  taxation  which  this  necessitated  was 


BRASS  OF  ROBERT 
ATTELATHE,  MAYOR 
OF  LYNN,  d.  1376. 

Taylor,  ' '  A  ntiquities  of 
Lynn. " 


SEC.  II 

THE  GOOD 
PARLIA- 
MENT 
1360 

TO 

'377 


The  Loss 
of  Aqui- 

taine 
1360-1369 


1366 


136? 


448  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  ii      fanned  by  Charles  into  revolt.     He  listened,  in  spite  of  the  treaty, 
rHE  GOOD    to   an    appeal    from    the  lords  of  Acuitainc,  and   summoned  the 

PARLIA- 
MENT      Black  Prince  to  his  Court.     "  I  will  come,"  replied  the  Prince,  "  but 
1360 

helmet  on  head,  and  with  sixty  thousand  men  at  my  back."     War, 

however,  had  hardly  been  declared  before  the  ability  with  which 
Charles  had  laid  his  plans  was  seen  in  his  seizure  of  Ponthieu,  and 
in  a  rising  of  the  whole  country  south  of  the  Garonne.  The  Black 
Prince,  borne  on  a  litter  to  the  walls  of  Limoges,  recovered  the 
town,  which  had  been  surrendered  to  the  French,  and  by  a  merci- 
less massacre  sullied  the  fame  of  his  earlier  exploits  ;  but  sickness 
recalled  him  home,  and  the  war,  protracted  by  the  caution  of 
Charles,  who  forbade  his  armies  to  engage,  did  little  but  exhaust 
the  energy  and  treasures  of  England.  At  last,  however,  the  error 
1372  of  the  Prince's  policy  was  seen  in  the  appearance  of  a  Spanish 
fleet  in  the  Channel,  and  in  a  decisive  victory  which  it  won  over  an 
English  convoy  off  Rochelle.  The  blow  was  in  fact  fatal  to  the 
English  cause  ;  it  wrested  from  Edward  the  mastery  of  the  seas, 
and  cut  off  his  communication  with  Aquitaine.  Charles  was 
roused  to  new  exertions.  Poitou,  Saintonge,  and  the  Angoumois 
yielded  to  his  general  Du  Guesclin,  and  Rochelle  was  surrendered 
by  its  citizens.  A  great  army  under  the  King's  third  son,  John  of 
Gaunt,  Duke  of  Lancaster,  penetrated  fruitlessly  into  the  heart 
of  France.  Charles  had  forbidden  any  fighting.  "If  a  storm  rages 
over  the  land,"  said  the  King,  coolly,  "  it  disperses  of  itself ;  and 
so  will  it  be  with  the  English."  Winter,  in  fact,  overtook  the 
Duke  in  the  mountains  of  Auvergne,  and  a  mere  fragment  of  his 
host  reached  Bordeaux.  The  failure  was  the  signal  for  a  general 
defection,  and  ere  the  summer  of  1374  had  closed  the  two  towns  of 
Bordeaux  and  Bayonne  were  all  that  remained  of  the  English 
possessions  in  southern  France. 

It  was  a  time  of  shame  and  suffering  such  as  England  had 
never  known.  Her  conquests  were  lost,  her  shores  insulted,  her 
fleets  annihilated,  her  commerce  swept  from  the  seas  ;  while  within 
she  was  exhausted  by  the  long  and  costly  war,  as  well  as  by  the 
ravages  of  pestilence.  In  the  hour  of  distress  the  eyes  of  the  hard- 
pressed  nobles  and  knighthood  turned  greedily  on  the  riches  of 
the  Church.  Never  had  her  spiritual  or  moral  hold  on  the  nation 
been  less  ;  never  had  her  wealth  been  greater.  Out  of  a  popu- 


THE    HUNDRED    YEARS'    WAR 


449 


lation  of  some  three  millions,  the  ecclesiastics  numbered  between 

twenty  and  thirty  thousand.  Wild 
tales  of  their  riches  floated 
about.  They  were  said  to  own 
in  landed  property  alone  more 
than  a  third  of  the  soil,  their 
"  spiritualities  "  in  dues  and  offer- 
ings amounting  to  twice  the 
King's  revenue.  The  throng  of 
bishops  round  the  council-board 
was  still  more  galling  to  the 
feudal  baronage,  flushed  as  it  was 
with  a  new  pride  by  the  victories 
of  Crecy  and  Poitiers.  On  the 
renewal  of  the  war  the  Parlia- 
ment prayed  that  the  chief  offices 
of  state  might  be  placed  in  lay 
hands.  William  of  Wykeham, 
Bishop  of  Winchester,  resigned 
the  Chancellorship,  another  prelate 
the  Treasury,  to  lay  dependents 
of  the  great  nobles;  and  the  panic 
of  the  clergy  was  seen  in  large 
grants  which  they  voted  in  Con- 
vocation. The  baronage  found  a 
leader  in  John  of  Gaunt  ;  but  even 
the  promise  to  pillage  the  Church 
failed  to  win  for  the  Duke  and 
his  party  the  goodwill  of  the 
lesser  gentry  and  of  the  bur- 
gesses ;  while  the  corruption  and 
the  utter  failure  of  the  new  ad- 
ministration and  the  calamities  of 
the  war  left  it  powerless  before 
the  Parliament  of  1376.  The 
action  of  this  Parliament  marks 

a  new  stage  in,  the  character  of  the  national  opposition  to   the 
misrule   of  the    Crown.      Till    now    the  '  task    of   resistance    had 
VOL.  1 — 29 


CROZIER   OF   WILLIAM   OK   WYKEHAM, 
AT   NEW   COLLEGE,    OXFORD. 


SEC.  II 

THE  GOOD 
PARLIA- 
MENT 

1360 

TO 
1377 


1371 


'ITit  Good 
Parlia- 
ment 
April 1376 


45° 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  II 

THE  GOOD 
PARLIA- 
MENT 

1360 

TO 
1377 


devolved    on   the   baronage,  and  had   been    carried    out  through 
risings  of  its  feudal  tenantry ;  but  the   misgovernment  was  now 

that  of  a  main  part  of  the 
baronage  itself  in  actual  con- 
junction with  the  Crown. 
Only  in  the  power  of  the 
Commons  lay  any  adequate 
means  of  peaceful  redress. 
The  old  reluctance  of  the 
Lower  House  to  meddle  with 
matters  of  State  was  roughly 
swept  away  therefore  by  the 
pressure  of  the  time.  The 
Black  Prince,  sick  as  he  was 
to  death  and  anxious  to 
secure  his  child's  succession 
by  the  removal  of  John  of 
Gaunt,  the  prelates  with 
William  of  Wykeham  at  their 
head,  resolute  again  to  take 
their  place  in  the  royal  coun- 
cils and  to  check  the  projects 
of  ecclesiastical  spoliation, 
alike  found  in  it  a  body 
to  oppose  to  the  Duke's 
administration.  Backed  by 
powers  such  as  these,  the 
action  of  the  Commons 
showed  none  of  their  old 
timidity  or  self-distrust.  The 
knights  of  the  shire  united 
with  the  burgesses  in  a  joint 
attack  on  the  royal  council 
"  Trusting  in  God,  and  stand- 
ing with  his  followers  before 
the  nobles,  whereof  the  chief 

was  John,  Duke  of  Lancaster,  whose  doings  were  ever  contrary," 
their  speaker,  Sir  Peter  de  la  Mare,  denounced  the  mismanagement 


EFFIGY   OF   WILLIAM    OF   WYKEHAM   ON    HIS 
TOMB    IN    WINCHESTER    CATHEDRAL. 


THE    HUNDRED    YEARS'    WAR 


of  the  war,  the  oppressive  taxation,  and  demanded  an  account  of  SEC,  n 
the  expenditure.  "  What  do  these  base  and  ignoble  knights  T 
attempt  ?"  cried  John  of  Gaunt.  "  Do  they  think  they  be  kings  or  ME"" 
princes  of  the  land  ?  "  But  even  the  Duke  was  silenced  by  the 
charges  brought  against  the  government,  and  the  Parliament  pro- 
ceeded to  the  impeachment  and  condemnation  of  two  ministers, 
Latimer  and  Lyons.  The  King  himself  had  sunk  into  dotage,  and 
was  wholly  under  the  influence  of  a  mistress  named  Alice  Ferrers  ; 
she  was  banished,  and  several  of  the  royal  servants  driven  from  the 
Court.  One  hundred  and  forty  petitions  were  presented  which 
embodied  the  grievances  of  the  realm.  They  demanded  the  annual 
assembly  of  Parliament,  and  freedom  of  election  for  the  knights  of 
the  shire,  whose  choice  was  now  often  tampered  with  by  the  Crown ; 
they  protested  against  arbitrary  taxation  and  Papal  inroads  on  the 
liberties  of  the  Church  ;  petitioned  for  the  protection  of  trade,  the 
enforcement  of  the  statute  of  labourers,  and  the  limitation  of  the 
powers  of  chartered  crafts.  At  the  death  of  the  Black  Prince  his  June  8 
little  son  Richard  was  brought  into  Parliament  and  acknowledged 
as  heir.  But  the  Houses  were  no  sooner  dismissed  than  Lancaster  July  6 
resumed  his  power.  His  haughty  will  flung  aside  all  restraints  of 
law.  He  dismissed  the  new  lords  and  prelates  from  the  Council. 
He  called  back  Alice  Perrers  and  the  disgraced  ministers.  He 
declared  the  Good  Parliament  no  parliament,  and  did  not  suffer  its 
petitions  to  be  enrolled  as  statutes.  He  imprisoned  Peter  de  la 
Mare,  and  confiscated  the  possessions  of  William  of  Wykeham. 
His  attack  on  this  prelate  was  an  attack  on  the  clergy  at  large. 
Fresh  projects  of  spoliation  were  openly  canvassed,  and  it  is  his 
support  of  these  plans  of  confiscation  which  now  brings  us  across 
the  path  of  John  Wyclif. 


452 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 


SEC.  Ill 

WYCLIF  Section  III.— John    Wyclif. 

[Authorities. — The  "Fasciculi  Zizaniorum"  in  the  Rolls  Series,  with  the 
documents  appended  to  it,  is  a  work  of  primary  authority  for  the  history  of 
Wyclif  and  his  followers.  A  selection  from  his  English  tracts  has  been  made 
by  Mr.  T.  Arnold  for  the  University  of  Oxford,  which  has  also  published  his 
"  Trias."  The  version  of  the  Bible  that  bears  his  name  has  been  edited  with 
a  valuable  preface  by  Rev.  J.  Forshall  and  Sir  F.  Madden.  There  are  lives  of 
Wyclif  by  Lewis  and  Vaughan  ;  and  Milman  ("Latin  Christianity,"  vol.  vi.) 
has  given  a  brilliant  summary  of  the  Lollard  movement.] 

Wyclif  Nothing  is  more  remarkable  than  the  contrast  between  the  ob- 

scurity of  Wyclifs  earlier  life  and  the  fulness  and  vividness  of  our 
knowledge  of  him  during  the  twenty  years  which  preceded  its 
close.  Born  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  fourteenth  century,  he  had 
already  passed  middle  age  when  he  was  appointed  to  the  master- 
ship of  Balliol  College  in  the  University  of  Oxford,  and  recognized 
as  first  among  the  schoolmen  of  his  day.  Of  all  the  scholastic 
doctors  those  of  England  had  been  throughout  the  keenest  and  the 
most  daring  in  philosophical  speculation  ;  a  reckless  audacity 
and  love  of  novelty  was  the  common  note  of  Bacon,  Duns  Scotus, 
and  Ockham,  as  against  the  sober  and  more  disciplined  learning  of 

13247-1361  the  Parisian  schoolmen,  Albert  and  Aquinas.  But  the  decay  of 
the  University  of  Paris  during  the  English  wars  was  transferring 
her  intellectual  supremacy  to  Oxford,  and  in  Oxford  Wyclif  stood 
without  a  rival.  From  his  predecessor,  Bradwardine,  whose  work 
as  a  scholastic  teacher  he  carried  on  in  the  speculative  treatises  he 
published  during  this  period,  he  inherited  the  tendency  to  a  pre- 
destinarian  Augustinianism  which  formed  the  groundwork  of  his 
\ater  theological  revolt.  His  debt  to  Ockham  revealed  itself  in  his 
earliest  efforts  at  Church  reform. >  Undismayed  by  the  thunder 
and  excommunications  of  the  Church,  Ockham  had  not  shrunk  in 
his  enthusiasm  for  the  Empire  from  attacking  the  foundations  of 
the  Papal  supremacy  or  from  asserting  the  rights  of  the  civil 
power.  The  spare,  emaciated  frame  of  Wyclif,  weakened  by  study 
and  by  asceticism,  hardly  promised  a  Reformer  who  would  carry 
on  the  stormy  work  of  Ockham  ;  but  within  this  frail  form  lay  a 
temper  quick  and  restless,  an  immense  energy,  an  immovable  con- 
viction, an  unconquerable  pride.  The  personal  charm  which  ever 


v  THE    HUNDRED    YEARS'    WAR  453 

accompanies  real  greatness  only  deepened  the  influence  he  derived  SEC.  HI 
from  the  spotless  purity  of  his  life.  As  yet  indeed  even  Wyclif 
himself  can  hardly  have  suspected  the  immense  range  of  his  intel- 
lectual power.  It  was  only  the  struggle  that  lay  before  him  which 
revealed  in  the  dry  and  subtle  schoolman  the  founder  of  our  later 
English  prose,  a  master  of  popular  invective,  of  irony,  of  persua- 
sion, a  dexterous  politician,  an  audacious  partisan,  the  organizer  of 


JOHN  WYCLIF. 

Portrait    at     Knole. 


a  religious  order,  the  unsparing  assailant  of  abuses,  the  boldest 
and  most  indefatigable  of  controversialists,  the  first  Reformer  who 
dared,  when  deserted  and  alone,  to  question  and  deny  the  creed  of 
the  Christendom  around  him,  to  break  through  the  tradition  of  the 
past,  and  with  his  last  breath  to  assert  the  freedom  of  religious 
thought  against  the  dogmas  of  the  Papacy. 

The  attack  of  Wyclif  began  precisely  at  the  moment  when  the 

and  the 

Church  of  the  middle  ages  had  sunk  to  its  lowest  point  of  spiritual     Papacy 


454 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  in     decay.     The  transfer  of  the  papacy  to  Avignon  robbed  it  of  half 
JOHN       the  awe  in  which  it  had  been  held  by  Englishmen,  for  not  only 

WYCLIF  *  f 

had  the  Popes  sunk  into  creatures  of  the  French  King,  but  their 
greed  and  extortion  produced  almost  universal  revolt.  The  claim 
of  first  fruits  and  annates  from  rectory  and  bishoprick,  the 
assumption  of  a  right  to  dispose  of  all  benefices  in  ecclesiastical 
patronage,  the  direct  taxation  of  the  clergy,  the  intrusion  of 
foreign  priests  into  English  livings,  the  opening  a  mart  for  the 


A    POPE    IN    CONSISTORY. 

Early  Fourteenth  Century. 
MS.  Add.  23923 ;  Decretals  of  Boniface  VIII. 

disposal  of  pardons,  dispensations,  and  indulgences,  and  the  en- 
couragement of  appeals  to  the  Papal  court  produced  a  wide- 
spread national  irritation  which  never  slept  till  the  Reformation. 
The  people  scorned  a  "  French  Pope,"  and  threatened  his  legates 
with  stoning  when  they  landed.  The  wit  of  Chaucer  flouted  the 
wallet  of  "  pardons  hot  from  Rome."  Parliament  vindicated  the 
right  of  the  State  to  prohibit  any  questioning  of  judgements  ren- 
dered in  the  King's  courts,  or  any  prosecution  of  a  suit  in  foreign 
courts,  by  the  Statute  of  Praemunire  ;  and  denied  the  Papal  claim 
to  dispose  of  benefices  by  that  of  Provisors.  But  the  effort  was 


v  THE    HUNDRED    YEARS'    WAR  455 

practically  foiled  by  the  treacherous  diplomacy  of  the  Crown.  SEC.  in 
The  Pope  waived  indeed  his  alleged  right  to  appoint  foreigners  ;  JOHN 
but  by  a  compromise,  in  which  Pope  and  King  combined  for  the 
enslaving  of  the  Church,  bishopricks,  abbacies,  and  livings  in  the 
gift  of  Churchmen  still  continued  to  receive  Papal  nominees  who 
had  been  first  chosen  by  the  Crown,  so  that  the  treasuries  of  King 
and  Pope  profited  by  the  arrangement.  The  protest  of  the  Good 
Parliament  is  a  record  of  the  ill-success  of  its  predecessors' 
attempts.  It  asserted  that  the  taxes  levied  by  the  Pope  amounted 
to  five  times  the  amount  of  those  levied  by  the  King,  that  by 
reservation  during  the  life  of  actual  holders  the  Pope  disposed  of 
the  same  bishoprick  four  or  five  times  over,  receiving  each 
time  the  first  fruits.  "  The  brokers  of  the  sinful  city  of  Rome 
promote  for  money  unlearned  and  unworthy  caitiffs  to  benefices  of 
the  value  of  a  thousand  marks,  while  the  poor  and  learned  hardly 
obtain  one  of  twenty.  So  decays  sound  learning.  They  present 
aliens  who  neither  see  nor  care  to  see  their  parishioners,  despise 
God's  services,  convey  away  the  treasure  of  the  realm,  and  are 
worse  than  Jews  or  Saracens.  The  Pope's  revenue  from  England 
alone  is  larger  than  that  of  any  prince  in  Christend6m.  God  gave 
his  sheep  to  be  pastured,  not  to  be  shaven  and  shorn."  The 
grievances  were  no  trifling  ones.  At  this  very  time  the  deaneries 
of  Lichfield,  Salisbury  and  York,  the  archdeaconry  of  Can- 
terbury, which  was  reputed  the  wealthiest  English  benefice, 
together  with  a  host  of  prebends  and  preferments,  were  held  by 
Italian  cardinals  and  priests,  while  the  Pope's  collector  from  his 
office  in  London  sent  twenty  thousand  marks  a  year  to  the  Papal 
treasury. 

If  extortion   and    tyranny  such  as  this    severed   the    English    England 
clergy  from  the  Papacy,  their  own  selfishness  severed  them    from     church 
the  nation  at  large.     Immense  as  was  their  wealth,  they  bore  as 
little  as  they  could  of  the  common  burthens  of  the  realm.       They 
were  still  resolute  to  assert   their   exemption  from   the    common 
justice  of  the  land,  and  the  mild  punishments  of  the  ecclesiastical 
courts    carried  little   dismay   into  the    mass   of  disorderly  clerks. 
Privileged  as   they   were   against   all    interference  from    the    lay 
world  without,  the  clergy  penetrated  by  their  control  over  wills, 
contracts,  divorce,  by  the  dues  they  exacted,  as  well  as  by  directly 


456  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE          CHAP,  v 

SEC.  in     religious  offices,  into  the  very  heart  of  the  social  life  around  them. 
JOHN       No  figure  was  better  known  or  more  hated   than  the  summoner 

WVCLIF 

who  enforced  the  jurisdiction  and  levied  the  dues  of  their  courts. 
On  the  other  hand,  their  moral  authority  was  rapidly  passing 
away  ;  the  wealthiest  churchmen,  with  curled  hair  and  hanging 
sleeves,  aped  the  costume  of  the  knightly  society  to  which  they 
really  belonged.  We  have  already  seen  the  general  impression  of 
their  worldliness  in  Chaucer's  picture  of  the  hunting  monk  and  the 
courtly  prioress  with  her  love-motto  on  her  brooch.  Over  the  vice 
of  the  higher  classes  they  exerted  no  influence  whatever  ;  the 
King  paraded  his  mistress  as  a  Queen  of  Beauty  through  London, 
the  nobles  blazoned  their  infamy  in  court  and  tournament.  "  In 
those  days,"  says  a  chronicler  of  the  time,  "  arose  a  great  rumour 
and  clamour  among  the  people,  that  wherever  there  was  a  tourna- 
ment there  came  a  great  concourse  of  ladies  of  the  most  costly 
and  beautiful,  but  not  of  the  best  in  the  kingdom,  sometimes  forty 
or  fifty  in  number,  as  if  they  were  a  part  of  the  tournament,  in 
diverse  and  wonderful  male  apparel,  in  parti-coloured  tunics,  with 
short  caps  and  bands  wound  cord-wise  round  their  head,  and 
girdles  bound  with  gold  and  silver,  and  daggers  in  pouches  across 
their  body,  and  then  they  proceeded  on  chosen  coursers  to  the 
place  of  tourney,  and  so  expended  and  wasted  their  goods  and 
vexed  their  bodies  with  scurrilous  wantonness  that  the  rumour  of 
the  people  sounded  everywhere  ;  and  thus  they  neither  feared  God 
nor  blushed  at  the  chaste  voice  of  the  people."  They  were  not 
called  on  to  blush  at  the  chaste  voice  of  the  Church.  The  clergy 
were  in  fact  rent  by  their  own  dissensions.  The  higher  prelates 
were  busy  with  the  cares  of  political  office  and  severed  from  the 
lower  priesthood  by  the  scandalous  inequality  between  the  revenues 
of  the  wealthier  ecclesiastics  and  the  "  poor  parson  "  of  the 
country.  A  bitter  hatred  divided  the  secular  clergy  from  the 
regular;  and  this  strife  went  fiercely  on  in  the  Universities. 
Fitz-Ralf,  the  Chancellor  of  Oxford,  attributed  to  the  Friars  the 
decline  in  the  number  of  academical  students,  and  the  University 
checked  by  statute  their  admission  of  mere  children  into  their 
orders.  The  older  religious  orders  in  fact  had  sunk  into  mere 
landowners,  while  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Friars  had  in  great  part 
died  away  and  left  a  crowd  of  impudent  mendicants  behind  it. 


RIDING  TO  A  TOURNAMENT. 


A  TOURNAMENT. 

MS.  Roy.  19  C.  i. 

Provencal,   Fourteenth  Century. 


45s 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


CHAP. 


SEC.  in 
JOHN 

WYCLIF 


Wyclif 

Church 
Reform 


Wyclif  could  soon  with  general  applause  denounce  them  as  sturdy 
beggars,  and  declare  that  "  the  man  who  gives  alms  to  a  begging- 

O"3      ° 

friar  is  ipso  facto  excommunicate." 

Without  the  ranks  of  the  clergy  stood  a  world  of  earnest  men 
who,  like  "  Piers  the  Ploughman,"  denounced  their  worldliness  and 

^  sceptjcs  \fce  Chaucer  laughing  at  the  jingling  bells  of  their 


1366 


TOMB    OF    ARCHBISHOP    PECKHAM    (1313),    IN     CANTERBURY     CATHEDRAL. 

hunting  abbots,  and  the  brutal  and  greedy  baronage  under  John  of 
Gaunt,  eager  to  drive  the  prelates  from  office  and  to  seize  on  their 
wealth.  Worthless  as  the  last  party  seems  to  us,  it  was  with  John  of 
Gaunt  that  Wyclif  allied  himself  in  his  effort  for  the  reform  of  the 
Church.  As  yet  his  quarrel  was  not  with  the  doctrines  of  Rome 
but  with  its  practice,  and  it  was  on  the  principles  of  Ockham  that 


THE    HUNDRED    YEARS'    WAR 


459 


he   defended  the  Parliament's  indignant  refusal  of  the   "tribute"      SEC.  in 
which    was  claimed   by  the    Papacy.     But  his  treatise  on  "  The        JOHN 
Kingdom  of  God  "  (De  Dominio  Divino)  shows  how  different  his 
aims  really  were  from  the  selfish  aims  of  the  men  with  whom  he 
acted.       In  this,  the  most  famous  of  his  works,  Wyclif  bases  his     c.  1368 
action  on  a  distinct  ideal  of  society.     All  authority,  to  use   his 
own  expression,  is  "  founded  in  grace."     Dominion  in  the  highest 
sense   is    in    God  alone  ;    it  is  God  who,  as  the  suzerain  of  the 


RUINS    OF    HALL,     MAYFIELD,    SUSSEX. 

Built  by  Archbishop  Islip,  c.  1350. 
Drawing  by  S.  H.  Grimm,  1783.     MS.  Add.  Burrell,  5671. 


universe,  deals  out  His  rule  in  fief  to  rulers  in  their  various  stations 
on  tenure  of  their  obedience  to  Himself.  It  was  easy  to  object  that 
in  such  a  case  "  dominion  "  could  never  exist,  since  mortal  sin  is 
a  breach  of  such  a  tenure,  and  all  men  sin.  But,  as  Wyclif  urged 
it,  the  theory  is  a  purely  ideal  one.  In  actual  practice  he  dis- 
tinguishes between  dominion  and  power,  power  which  the  wicked 
may  have  by  God's  permission,  and  to  which  the  Christian  must 
submit  from  motives  of  obedience  to  God.  In  his  own  scholastic 
phrase,  so  strangely  perverted  afterwards,  here  on  earth  "  God 


460  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 

SEC.  in  must  obey  the  devil."  But  whether  in  the  ideal  or  practical  view 
JOHN  of  the  matter,  all  power  or  dominion  was  of  God.  It  was  granted 
by  Him  not  to  one  person,  His  Vicar  on  earth,  as  the  Papacy 
alleged,  but  to  all.  The  King  was  as  truly  God's  Vicar  as  the 
Pope.  The  royal  power  was  as  sacred  as  the  ecclesiastical,  and  as 
complete  over  temporal  things,  even  the  temporalities  of  the 
Church,  as  that  of  the  Church  over  spiritual  things.  On  the 
question  of  Church  and  State  therefore  the  distinction  between 
the  ideal  and  practical  view  of  "  dominion  "  was  of  little  account 
Wyclifs  application  of  the  theory  to  the  individual  conscience 
was  of  far  higher  and  wider  importance.  Obedient  as  each 
Christian  might  be  to  king  or  priest,  he  himself,  as  a  possessor 
of  "  dominion,"  held  immediately  of  God.  The  throne  of  God 
Himself  was  the  tribunal  of  personal  appeal.  What  the  Reformers 
of  the  sixteenth  century  attempted  to  do  by  their  theory  of 
Justification  by  Faith,  Wyclif  attempted  to  do  by  his  theory  of 
"  dominion."  It  was  a  theory  which  in  establishing  a  direct  rela- 
tion between  man  and  God  swept  away  the  whole  basis  of  a 
mediating  priesthood  on  which  the  mediaeval  Church  was  built ; 
but  for  a  time  its  real  drift  was  hardly  perceived.  To  Wyclifs 
theory  of  Church  and  State,  his  subjection  of  their  temporalities 
to  the  Crown,  his  contention  that  like  other  property  they  might 
be  seized  and  employed  for  national  purposes,  his  wish  for  their 
voluntary  abandonment  and  the  return  of  the  Church  to  its 
original  poverty,  the  clergy  were  more  sensitive.  They  were 
bitterly  galled  when  he  came  forward  as  the  theological  bulwark 
of  the  Lancastrian  party  at  a  time  when  they  were  writhing  un- 
der the  attack  on  Wykeham  by  the  nobles ;  and  in  the  prosecution 
1377  °f  Wyclif,  they  resolved  to  return  blow  for  blow.  He  was  sum- 
moned before  Bishop  Courtenay  of  London  to  answer  for 
his  heretical  propositions  concerning  the  wealth  of  the  Church. 
The  Duke  of  Lancaster  accepted  the  challenge  as  really  given  to 
himself,  and  stood  by  Wyclifs  side  in  the  Consistory  Court  at  St. 
Paul's.  But  no  trial  took  place.  Fierce  words  passed  between 
the  nobles  and  the  prelate ;  the  Duke  himself  was  said  to  have 
threatened  to  drag  Courtenay  out  of  the  church  by  the  hair  of  his 
head,  and  at  last  the  London  populace,  to  whom  John  of  Gaunt 
was  hateful,  burst  in  to  their  Bishop's  rescue,  and  Wyclifs  life  was 


v  THE    HUNDRED    YEARS'    WAR  461 

saved  with  difficulty  by  the  aid  of  the  soldiery.  But  his  courage  only  SEC.  in 
grew  with  the  danger.  A  Papal  bull  which  was  procured  by  the  ^°HN 
bishops,  directing  the  University  to  condemn  and  arrest  him, 
extorted  from  him  a  bold  defiance.  In  a  defence  circulated 
widely  through  the  kingdom  and  laid  before  Parliament,  Wyclif 
broadly  asserted  that  no  man  could  be  excommunicated  by  the 
Pope  "unless  he  were  first  excommunicated  by  himself."  He 
denied  the  right  of  the  Church  to  exact  or  defend  temporal 
privileges  by  spiritual  censures,  declared  that  a  Church  might 
justly  be  deprived  by  the  King  or  lay  lords  of  its  property  for 
defect  of  duty,  and  defended  the  subjection  of  ecclesiastics  to 
civil  tribunals.  Bold  as  the  defiance  was,  it  won  the  support  cf 
the  people  and  of  the  Crown.  When  he  appeared  at  the  close 
of  the  year  in  Lambeth  Chapel  to  answer  the  Archbishop's 
summons,  a  message  from  the  Court  forbade  the  Primate  to 
proceed,  and  the  Londoners  broke  in  and  dissolved  the  session. 

Wyclif  was  still  working  hand  in  hand  with  John  of  Gaunt  in  The 
advocating  his  plans  of  ecclesiastical  reform,  when  the  great  insur-  Protest- 
rection  of  the  peasants,  which  we  shall  soon  have  to  describe,  broke  ant 
out  under  Wat  Tyler.  In  a  few  months  the  whole  of  his  work  was 
undone.  Not  only  was  the  power  of  the  Lancastrian  party  on 
which  Wyclif  had  relied  for  the  moment  annihilated,  but  the 
quarrel  between  the  baronage  and  the  Church,  on  which  his  action  1381 
had  hitherto  been  grounded,  was  hushed  in  the  presence  of  a 
common  danger.  His  "poor  preachers"  were  looked  on  as  mis- 
sionaries of  socialism.  The  Friars  charged  him  with  being  a 
"  sower  of  strife,  who  by  his  serpent-like  instigation  has  set  the 
serf  against  his  lord,"  and  though  Wyclif  tossed  back  the  charge 
with  disdain,  he  had  to  bear  a  suspicion  which  was  justified  by  the 
conduct  of  some  of  his  followers.  John  Ball,  who  had  figured  in 
the  front  rank  of  the  revolt,  was  claimed  as  one  of  his  adherents, 
and  was  alleged  to  have  denounced  in  his  last  hour  the  conspiracy 
of  the  "  Wyclifites."  His  most  prominent  scholar,  Nicholas 
Herford,  was  said  to  have  openly  approved  the  brutal  murder  of 
Archbishop  Sudbury.  Whatever  belief  such  charges  might  gain,  it 
is  certain  that  from  this  moment  all  plans  for  the  reorganization  of 
the  Church  were  confounded  in  the  general  odium  which  attached 
to  the  projects  of  the  peasant  leaders,  and  that  any  hope  of  ec- 


462 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE 


SEC.  Ill 


clesiastical  reform  at  the  hands  of  the  baronage  and  the  Parliament 
was  at  an  end.  But  even  if  the  Peasant  Revolt  had  not  deprived 
Wyclif  of  the  support  of  the  aristocratic  party  with  whom  he  had 
hitherto  co-operated,  their  alliance  must  have  been  dissolved  by  the 


JOHN 

\VVCLI! 


GATEWAY    OF    THORNTON    ABBEY,    LINCOLNSHIRE. 
Built  c.  1382. 


new  theological  position  which  he  had  already  taken  up.  Some 
months  before  the  outbreak  of  the  insurrection,  he  had  by  one 
memorable  step  passed  from  the  position  of  a  reformer  of  the 
discipline  and  political  relations  of  the  Church  to  that  of  a  protester 
against  its  cardinal  beliefs.  If  there  was  one  doctrine  upon  which 
the  supremacy  of  the  Mediaeval  Church  rested,  it  was  the  doctrine 
of  Transubstantiation.  It  was  by  his  exclusive  right  to  the  per- 


v  THE    HUNDRED    YEARS'    WAR  463 

formance  of  the  miracle  which  was  wrought  in  the  mass  that  the  SF.C.  in 
lowliest  priest  was  raised  high  above  princes.  With  the  formal  ^™"ir 
denial  of  the  doctrine  of  Transubstantiation  which  Wyclif  issued 
in  the  spring  of  1381  began  that  great  movement  of  revolt  which  1381 
ended,  more  than  a  century  after,  in  the  establishment  of  religious 
freedom,  by  severing  the  mass  of  the  Teutonic  peoples  from  the 
general  body  of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  act  was  the  bolder  that 
he  stood  utterly  alone.  The  University,  in  which  his  influence  had 
been  hitherto  all-powerful,  at  once  condemned  him.  John  of  Gaunt 
enjoined  him  to  be  silent.  Wyclif  was  presiding  as  Doctor  of 
Divinity  over  some  disputations  in  the  schools  of  the  Augustinian 
Canons  when  his  academical  condemnation  was  publicly  read,  but 
though  startled  for  the  moment  he  at  once  challenged  Chancellor 
or  doctor  to  disprove  the  conclusions  at  which  he  had  arrived.  The 
prohibition  of  the  Duke  of  Lancaster  he  met  by  an  open  avowal 
of  his  teaching,  a  confession  which  closes  proudly  with  the  quiet 
words,  "  I  believe  that  in  the  end  the  truth  will  conquer."  For  the 
moment  his  courage  dispelled  the  panic  around  him.  The  Uni- 
versity responded  to  his  appeal,  and  by  displacing  his  opponents 
from  office  tacitly  adopted  his  cause.  But  Wyclif  no  longer  looked 
for  support  to  the  learned  or  wealthier  classes  on  whom  he  had 
hitherto  relied.  He  appealed,  and  the  appeal  is  memorable  as  the 
first  of  such  a  kind  in  our  history,  to  England  at  large.  With  an 
amazing  industry  he  issued  tract  after  tract  in  the  tongue  of  the 
people  itself.  The  dry,  syllogistic  Latin,  the  abstruse  and  involved 
argument  which  the  great  doctor  had  addressed  to  his  academic 
hearers,  were  suddenly  flung  aside,  and  by  a  transition  which  marks 
the  wonderful  genius  of  the  man  the  schoolman  was  transformed 
into  the  pamphleteer.  If  Chaucer  is  the  father  of  our  later  English 
poetry,  Wyclif  is  the  father  of  our  later  English  prose.  The  rough,  ' 
clear,  homely  English  of  his  tracts,  the  speech  of  the  ploughman 
and  the  trader  of  the  day,  though  coloured  with  the  picturesque 
phraseology  of  the  Bible,  is  in  its  literary  use  as  distinctly  a  creation 
of  his  own  as  the  style  in  which  he  embodied  it,  the  terse  vehement 
sentences,  the  stinging  sarcasms,  the  hard  antitheses  which  roused 
the  dullest  mind  like  a  whip.  Once  fairly  freed  from  the  trammels 
of  unquestioning  belief,  Wyclif's  mind  worked  fast  in  its  career  of 
scepticism.  Pardons,  indulgences,  absolutions,  pilgrimages  to  the 
shrines  of  the  saints,  worship  of  their  images,  worship  of  the  saints 


464  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE  CHAP. 


SEC.  in  themselves,  were  successively  denied.  A  formal  appeal  to  the 
JOHN  Bible  as  the  one  ground  of  faith,  coupled  with  an  assertion  of  the 
right  of  every  instructed  man  to  examine  the  Bible  for  himself, 
threatened  the  very  groundwork  of  the  older  dogmatism  with  ruin. 
Nor  were  these  daring  denials  confined  to  the  small  circle  of  the 
scholars  who  still  clung  to  him  ;  with  the  practical  ability  which  is 
so  marked  a  feature  of  his  character,  Wyclif  had  organized  some 
few  years  before  an  order  of  poor  preachers,  "  the  Simple  Priests," 


PREACHING    IN    THE    OPEN    AIR,   A.D.    1338 — 1344. 
MS.  Bodl.  Misc.  264. 

whose  coarse  sermons  and  long  russet  dress  moved  the  laughter  of 
the  clergy,  but  who  now  formed  a  priceless  organization  for  the 
diffusion  of  their  master's  doctrines.  How  rapid  their  progress  must 
have  been  we  may  see  from  the  panic-struck  exaggerations  of  their 
opponents.  A  few  years  later  they  complained  that  the  followers  of 
Wyclif  abounded  everywhere  and  in  all  classes,  among  the  baronage, 
in  the  cities,  among  the  peasantry  of  the  country-side,  even  in  the 
monastic  cell  itself.  "  Every  second  man  one  meets  is  a  Lollard." 
Oxford  "  Lollard,"  a  word  which  probably  means  "  idle  babbler,"  was 

Lollards  the  nickname  of  scorn  with  which  the  orthodox  Churchmen  chose 
to  insult  their  assailants.  But  this  rapid  increase  changed  their 
scorn  into  vigorous  action.  Courtenay,  now  become  Archbishop, 
summoned  a  council  at  Blackfriars,  and  formally  submitted  twenty- 
four  propositions  drawn  from  Wyclif  s  works.  An  earthquake  in  the 
midst  of  the  proceedings  terrified  every  prelate  but  the  resolute 
Primate  ;  the  expulsion  of  ill  humours  from  the  earth,  he  said,  was 
of  good  omen  for  the  expulsion  of  ill  humours  from  the  Church ;  and 
the  condemnation  was  pronounced.  Then  the  Archbishop  turned 


v  THE    HUNDRED    YEARS'    WAR  465 

fiercely  upon  Oxford  as  the  fount  and  centre  of  the  new  heresies.  SEC,  in 
In  an  English  sermon  at  St.  Frideswide's,  Nicholas  Herford  had  ^°CHL*F 
asserted  the  truth  of  Wyclif  s  doctrines,  and  Courtenay  ordered  the  ^2 
Chancellor  to  silence  him  and  his  adherents  on  pain  of  being  him- 
self treated  as  a  heretic.  The  Chancellor  fell  back  on  the  liberties 
of  the  University,  and  appointed  as  preacher  another  Wyclifite, 
Repyngdon,  who  did  not  hesitate  to  style  the  Lollards  "holy 
priests,"  and  to  affirm  that  they  were  protected  by  John  of  Gaunt. 
Party  spirit  meanwhile  ran  high  among  the  students  ;  the  bulk  of 
them  sided  with  the  Lollard  leaders,  and  a  Carmelite,  Peter  Stokes, 
who  had  procured  the  Archbishop's  letters,  cowered  panic-stricken 
in  his  chamber  while  the  Chancellor,  protected  by  an  escort  of  a 
hundred  townsmen,  listened  approvingly  to  Repyngdon's  defiance. 
"  I  dare  go  no  further,"  wrote  the  poor  Friar  to  the  Archbishop,  "  for 
fear  of  death  ; "  but  he  soon  mustered  courage  to  descend  into  the 
schools  where  Repyngdon  was  now  maintaining  that  the  clerical 
order  was  "  better  when  it  was  but  nine  years  old  than  now  that  it 
has  grown  to  a  thousand  years  and  more."  The  appearance,  however, 
of  scholars  in  arms  again  drove  Stokes  to  fly  in  despair  to  Lambeth, 
while  a  new  heretic  in  open  Congregation  maintained  Wyclif  s 
denial  of  Transubstantiation.  "  There  is  no  idolatry,"  cried 
William  James,  "  save  in  the  Sacrament  of  the  Altar."  "  You  speak 
like  a  wise  man,"  replied  the  Chancellor,  Robert  Rygge.  Cour- 
tenay however  was  not  the  man  to  bear  defiance  tamely,  and  his 
summons  to  Lambeth  wrested  a  submission  from  Rygge  which  was 
only  accepted  on  his  pledge  to  suppress  the  Lollardism  of  the 
University.  "  I  dare  not  publish  them,  on  fear  of  death,"  exclaimed 
the  Chancellor  when  Courtenay  handed  him  his  letters  of  condem- 
nation. "  Then  is  your  University  an  open  fautor  of  heretics," 
retorted  the  Primate,  "if  it  suffers  not  the  Catholic  truth  to  be 
proclaimed  within  its  bounds."  The  royal  council  supported  the 
Archbishop's  injunction,  but  the  publication  of  the  decrees  at  once 
set  Oxford  on  fire.  The  scholars  threatened  death  against  the 
Friars,  "  crying  that  they  wished  to  destroy  the  University."  The 
masters  suspended  Henry  Crump  from  teaching,  as  a  troubler  of 
the  public  peace,  for  calling  the  Lollards  "  heretics."  The  Crown 
however  at  last  stepped  roughly  in  to  Courtenay's  aid,  and  a  royal 
writ  ordered  the  instant  banishment  of  all  favourers  of  Wyclif,  with 
the  seizure  and  destruction  of  all  Lollard  books,  on  pain  of  for- 
VOL.  1—30 


466  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE          CHAP,  v 

SEC.  in  feiture  of  the  University's  privileges.  The  threat  produced  its 
effect.  Herford  and  Repyngdon  appealed  in  vain  to  John  of 
Gaunt  for  protection  ;  the  Duke  himself  denounced  them  as  heretics 
against  the  Sacrament  of  the  Altar,  and  after  much  evasion  they 
were  forced  to  make  a  formal  submission.  Within  Oxford  itself 
the  suppression  of  Lollardism  was  complete,  but  with  the  death 
of  religious  freedom  all  trace  of  intellectual  life  suddenly  disappears. 
The  century  which  followed  the  triumphs  of  Courtenay  is  the  most 
barren  in  its  annals,  nor  was  the  sleep  of  the  University  broken  till 
the  advent  of  the  New  Learning  restored  to  it  some  of  the  life  and 
liberty  which  the  Primate  had  so  roughly  trodden  out. 

,     The  Nothing  marks  more  strongly  the  grandeur  of  Wyclifs  position 

Wyclif  -as.  the  last  of  the  great  schoolmen,  than  the  reluctance  of  so  bold 
a  man  as  Courtenay  even  after  his  triumph  over  Oxford  to  take 
extreme  measures  against  the  head  of  Lollardry.  Wyclif,  though 
summoned,  had  made  no  appearance  before  the  "  Council  of  the 
Earthquake."  "Pontius  Pilate  and  Herod  are  made  friends  to-day," 
was  his  bitter  comment  on  the  new  union  which  proved  to  have 
sprung  up  between  the  prelates  and  the  monastic  orders  who  had 
so  long  been  at  variance  with  each  other ;  "  since  they  have  made  a 
heretic  of  Christ,  it  is  an  easy  inference  for  them  to  count  simple 
Christians  heretics."  He  seems  indeed  to  have  been  sick  at  the 
moment,  but  the  announcement  of  the  final  sentence  roused  him  to 
life  again.  "  I  shall  not  die,"  he  is  said  to  have  cried  at  an  earlier 
time  when  in  grievous  peril,  "  but  live  and  declare  the  works  of  the 
Friars."  He  petitioned  the  King  and  Parliament  that  he  might  be 
allowed  freely  to  prove  the  doctrines  he  had  put  forth,  and  turning 
with  characteristic  energy  to  the  attack  of  his  assailants,  he  asked 
that  all  religious  vows  might  be  suppressed,  that  tithes  might  be 
diverted  to  the  maintenance  of  the  poor  and  the  clergy  maintained 
by  the  free  alms  of  their  flocks,  that  the  Statutes  of  Provisors  and 
Praemunire  might  be  enforced  against  the  Papacy,  that  churchmen 
might  be  declared  incapable  of  secular  offices,  and  imprisonment 
for  excommunication  cease.  Finally,  in  the  teeth  of  the  council's 
condemnation,  he  demanded  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Eucharist 
which  he  advocated  might  be  freely  taught.  If  he  appeared  in  the 
following  year  before  the  Convocation  at  Oxford,  it  was  to  perplex 
his  opponents  by  a  display  of  scholastic  logic  which  permitted 
him  to  retire  without  any  retractation  of  his  sacramental  heresy. 


NEW    COLLEGE,    OXFORD,   AND    ITS    ONE    HUNDRED    CLERKS,    C.    1453. 
MS.  New  Coll.  Oxford,  cclxxxviii. 


468  HISTORY    OF    THE    ENGLISH    PEOPLE          CHAP,  v 


SEC.  in  For  the  time  his  opponents  seemed  satisfied  with  his  expulsion 
^JOHN  from  the  University,  but  in  his  retirement  at  Lutterworth  he  was 
forging  during  these  troubled  years  the  great  weapon  which, 
>-383  wielded  by  other  hands  than  his  own,  was  to  produce  so  terrible 
an  effect  on  the  triumphant  hierarchy.  An  earlier  translation  of 
the  Scriptures,  in  part  of  which  he  was  aided  by  his  scholar 
Herford,  was  being  revised  and  brought  to  the  second  form,  which 
is  better  known  as  "  Wyclif's  Bible,"  when  death  drew  near.  The 
appeal  of  the  prelates  to  Rome  was  answered  at  last  by  a  brief 
ordering  him  to  appear  at  the  Papal  Court.  His  failing  strength 
exhausted  itself  in  the  cold  sarcastic  reply  which  explained  that 
his  refusal  to  comply  with  the  summons  simply  sprang  from 
broken  health.  "I  am  always  glad,"  ran  the  ironical  answer,  "to 
explain  my  faith  to  any  one,  and  above  all  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome  ; 
for  I  take  it  for  granted  that  if  it  be  orthodox  he  will  confirm  it, 
if  it  be  erroneous  he  will  correct  it.  I  assume,  too,  that  as  chief 
Vicar  of  Christ  upon  earth  the  Bishop  of  Rome  is  of  all  mortal 
men  most  bound  to  the  law  of  Christ's  Gospel,  for  among  the 
disciples  of  Christ  a  majority  is  not  reckoned  by  simply  counting 
heads  in  the  fashion  of  this  world,  but  according  to  the  imitation 
of  Christ  on  either  side.  Now  Christ  during  His  life  upon  earth 
was  of  all  men  the  poorest  casting  from  Him  all  worldly  authority. 
I  deduce  from  these  premisses,  as  a  simple  counsel  of  my  own,  that 
the  Pope  should  surrender  all  temporal  authority  to  the  civil  power 
and  advise  his  clergy  to  do  the  same."  The  boldness  of  his  words 
sprang  perhaps  from  a  knowledge  that  his  end  was  near.  The 
Dec.  31,  terrible  strain  on  energies  enfeebled  by  age  and  study  had  at  last 
brought  its  inevitable  result,  and  a  stroke  of  paralysis  while  Wyclif 
was  hearing  mass  in  his  parish  church  of  Lutterworth  was  followed 
on  the  next  day  by  his  death. 


END   OF   VOL.    I 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY,  LOS  ANGELES 

COLLEGE  LIBRARY 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


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